m 






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D.LOTHROP& CO.BOSTOX MAS 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

' f)§n P eB4(0 W ig| 



UNITED STATES- OP AMERICA. 



I liltf . 




OVERHEAD ; 



WHAT HARRY AND NELLY DISCOVERED IN 
THE HEAVENS. 



ANNIE MOORE AND LAURA D. NICHOLS. 



INTRODUCTION, 

BY 

LEONARD WALDO, of Harvard College Observatory 



If, 



1 

o. 

... -.w 1879. L* 



BOSTON: 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY, 

Franklin St., corner of Hawley. 



COPYRIGHT, 

D. LOTHROP & CO. 

1878. 



/ 



PREFACE. 



Mr. Huxley, in a capital after-dinner speech on Scientific Edu- 
cation, says : " To begin with, let every child be instructed in 
those general views of the phenomena of Nature for which we 
have no exact English name. The nearest approximation to 
a name for what I mean, which we possess, is ' physical geo- 
graphy.' The Germans have a better, ' Erdkunde,' ('earth- 
knowledge,' or ' geology ' in its etymological sense,) that is to 
say, a general knowledge of the earth, and what is on it, in it, 
and about it. If any one who has had experience of the ways 
of young children will call to mind their questions, he will find 
that so far as they can be put into any scientific category, they 
come under this head of ' Erdkunde.' The child asks : 'What 
is the moon, and why does it shine ? ' ' What is the water, and 
where does it run ? ' ' What is the wind ? ' ' What makes the 
waves in the sea ? ' ' Where does this animal live, and what is 
the use of that plant ? ' And, if it is not snubbed or stunted by 
being told not to ask foolish questions, there is no limit to the 
intellectual craving of a young child ; nor any bounds to the slow 
but solid accretion of knowledge and development of the think- 
ing faculty in this way." 

To the least observant it is clear there is a change going on in 
the manner of the education of the little folks. Very gradually, 
but very surely, the idea has gained force, that in its early years, 
the mind requires just as skillful training, and by just as cul- 
tured teachers as in the academy and high school. There is no 

3 



PREFACE. 

reason why the acquisitive energy of the child should not be 
used to store its mind with the first elements of knowledge re- 
garding the why and wherefore of the flowers under foot, or the 
stars overhead ; but to properly interest and explain, requires an 
objective system of teaching, and a superior class of teaching, 
which, as a people, we are not yet ready to pay for in our 
schools. 

Next to the teacher, comes the book : and there is a good 
field for the writers who, having the genius for pleasing the 
severe critics which a tenth of a century can produce, shall exert 
their genius in presenting, in entertaining ways, the truths of 
Natural Science so far as they relate to things of every-day life. 
The present little book is an example in point. To be sure, I 
think the writers have rather stolen a march on the little folks in 
covering up a primer of astronomy under the guise of a story, 
but the deception is of the same nature as we use in the Kinder- 
garten. . We appeal to the boy's interest in what he sees about 
him, and while he thinks he has only pleasure of the lighter sort 
in the story or the game, we know that some new truth is being 
added to his mind, some new muscle is being called into play, he 
is taking another step in the analysis of cause and effect, he is 
steadily learning to think. 

It need hardly be said that this little book is not meant for a 
text-book even in the most modest of the " Institutes " for which 
some sections of our country are so justly — we'll say — noto- 
rious. It belongs in the nursery — intermediate between Cinder- 
ella and Robinson Crusoe, and perhaps somewhat displacing 
Sanford and Merton and dear old Mr. Barlow, though the two 
former must have grey beards by this time, and doubtless Mr. 
Barlow lies slumbering in the shades of St. Paul's. 

Leonard Waldo. 

Harvard College Observatory, 
October,. 1878. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE. 

I — To Hickory Corners .... 7 

Dr. Bonney's Prescription. — Cousin Miranda. — Grood-bye, 
Mamma. — The Stranger. — Lowell Mills. — Pop-corn. — Milligan's 
Crossing. 

II — At the Widow Parsnips' . . . .20 

Letters Home. — A Piazza-talk. — The Sun. — Centrifugal and 
Centripetal Force. — Gravitation. — Sir Isaac Newton. — Bed-time. 

Ill — Planets versus Chickens . . .39 

Mars and Saturn. — Planets and Fixed Stars. — Mercury. — 
Copernicus. — Galileo. — Jupiter and his Moons. — The Yellow 
Hen. — Fire-flies. 

IV— The Picnic .... .58 

Nelly's Satellites. — Abner. — The Flies and the Orange. — 
Rotundity of the Earth. — Eclipses of the Moon. — Annular 
Eclipse. — Day and Night. — The Watering-trough. — The Colt. — 
Dinner. — Abner and the Ants. 



3 



CONTENTS. 

V — Good-bye to Hackmatack Mountain . jj 

Dinner-talk. — Length of Days and Nights. — Change of Sea- 
sons. — An idle Afternoon. — Quartz and Garnets. — Supper. — 
Homeward bound. 

VI — News from Home . . . . .95 

Mrs. Marlow's Letter. — The full Moon. — The unwilling 
Kitten. — The Milky-way. — Climate of the Moon. — Earthquakes 
and Volcanoes. — Hasty-pudding. — The Shower. 

VII — More about the Moon . . .116 

Another Piazza-talk. — Waxing and Waning. — Lunar Crescent. 
— Phases of Venus. — Earth-shine. — Eclipses. — Columbus and the 
Indians. — The mended Moon. — Tvcho Brahe.- — Leaving Hick- 
ory Corners. 

VIII— Letters . . . . . • . 142 

The Professor's Letter. — Major and Kitty Gray. — Harry's 
Letter. — Collections, — Indian Names. — Scallop-shells. — Wild 
Flowers. 

IX— The Professor's Visit . . . .152 

Another Letter from the Professor. — He arrives. — A Walk 
on the Beach. — Nelly's Basket. — Tides. — Bay of Fundy. — A 
Day in Boston. — Telescope on the Common. — Microscope. — 
Telescopes and Observatories. 

X — Astronomy and Fishing . . . .186 

Scuppaug. — Sun-spots. — The Corona. — Red Prominences. — 
Spectroscope. — Solar Spectrum. — Prisms. — Zodiacal Light. — » 
G-ood-night. 



CONTENTS. 

XI — Last Days at Lotus Bay . . . 206 

A Drive with the Professor. — Meteors and Comets. — A Door 
step Lecture. — The North Star. — The Great Bear and the Little 
Bear. — Princess Callisto. — Nautical Almanac. — Chronometers. — 
Longitude. 



XII — Autumn Changes . 

A Letter from Miss Roseberry. — Poor Abner.- 



Question.- 
Florida. 



-The Answer. — Returning to Boston.- 



• 235 
—An important 
Washington. — 




*M5 




OVERHEAD. 



Chapter I. 



TO HICKORY CORNERS. 

"You must take him out of 
school, " said Doctor Bonney. 

" I have tried that," said Mrs. 
Marlow, " and the only difference is 
that he reads all day in his own 
room." 

"Take away his books, then, — 



OVERHEAD. 

turn him out-of-doors, — and tell him 
to play and roam about till he is 
hungry; — then feed him and turn 
him out again. " 

" We've tried that too, and when 
his father went to look for him at 
night, he found him in a close, dusty 
machine-shop, asking all kinds of 
questions, making friends with the 
men, and black from head to foot, 
with experiments he had been trying. 
He had been there all day, and had 
given half his dinner to a boy who 
hadn't enough, he said." 

" Take him into the country." 
" O Doctor I wish I could, but 
Mr. Marlow cannot leave his office 
for two months yet, and I am so 
anxious about his health I dare not 
leave him." 



O HICKORY CORNERS. 



The poor mother had tears in her 
eyes as she spoke. Dr. Bonney 
hated tears. He rose at once. He 
really pitied her, but the more his 
heart softened the rougher his voice 
and manner grew. 

" Send the boy off by himself 
then," he growled ; " turn him out 
to pasture like any other calf ; send 
the girl too to keep him company, 
but don't let him take a single book 
for six months, or you lose him." 

By this time the Doctor was half- 
way down stairs, scowling and growl- 
ing ominously. Mrs. Marlow fol- 
lowed him. She felt as if Harry's 
future hung upon his words. 

" Can you recommend any board- 
ing-place, Dr. ? " 

" Widow Parsnips, Hickory Cor- 



OVERHEAD. 



n.ers, New Hampshire, he snapped. 
Opening the street-door, then turning 
back his head, he added, " Good 
woman — no nonsense — good place 
— no books — feed him well — bread 
and milk — come home fat. Send 
him to-morrow. Good-bye. ,, 

Mrs. Marlow ran down to the gate 
after him, and called out, " How far 
away is it ? " as the Doctor gathered 
up the reins. 

" Only sixty miles." 

" Sixty miles," repeated the poor 
mother. " Send my two only chil- 
dren sixty miles, to be gone all sum- 
mer, with a woman I never saw?" 

" Haven't you got any old maid 
aunt, or run-down cousin that '11 be 
glad of the chance to go too?" And 
then there was nothing left but a 



TO HICKORY CORNERS. 

cloud of dust; but as Mrs. Marlow 
returned to her basket of mending, 
she began to look more hopeful, 
and presently said aloud, " Miranda 
Roseberry ! the very one." 

Now, Miranda Roseberry was a 
niece of Mr. Marlow's, about twenty- 
nine years old, who was a teacher in 
one of the public schools of the city 
where our story is laid. She was a 
cheerful, bright-faced girl, and Harry 
and Nelly always liked to have her 
come to tea. She would be sure to 
be glad to go into the country, for 
her school had just closed, and she 
lived in rather a dingy boarding- 
house in a narrow street. 

" I will gladly pay all her expenses 
if she will only go with the children, " 
thought Mrs. Marlow ; " she is kind 



ii 



OVERHEAD. 

and sensible, and will write to me 
just how they are/' 

The good mother's face grew 
brighter and brighter, and her needle 
flew faster and faster through Har- 
ry's socks, as she said to herself, " I 
will go round and see Miranda be- 
fore tea." 

Three days after, Cousin Miranda, 
Harry and Nelly took the noon train 
for Hickory Corners, or rather for 
Milligan's Crossing, which was the 
nearest railroad station to the Widow 
Parsnips' house. It was a very warm 
day, and little Nelly, who had never 
been away from home without her 
mother before, cried all the way from 
the house to the train, and when she 
got out of the carriage her eyes were 
so blinded that she missed the step, 



TO HICKORY CORNERS. 

and would have fallen headlong, if a 
gentleman who was just entering the 
station had not sprung forward and 
caught her. Mamma and Miss 
Roseberry were so encumbered with 
shawl-straps, bags, and packages, they 
were quite helpless, and Harry was 
wholly absorbed in watching a truck 
full of trunks which a porter was 
wheeling swiftly along the platform. 
" I am sure the centre of gravity is 
outside of the truck," he muttered. 
They will come tumbling over in 
another minute, " and then he heard 
a scream, and saw Nelly in the arms 
of a tall stranger with a bushy iron- 
gray moustache, and pleasant, laugh- 



ing eyes. 



It was only an instant. Exclama- 
tions, apologies, thanks, reproof, and 

13 



OVERHEAD. 



then they were all in the train. A 
good many good-bye kisses, a few 
promises and words of advice, tears 
from Nelly, pretended indifference 
from Harry, wistful, lingering looks 
from Mrs. Marlow, and only smiling 
nods, and hopeful words from Miss 
Roseberrv. 

Then " all aboard," and away 
puffed the train, and here was the 
iron-gray moustache right in front 
of them, stowing away his canvass 
bag in one of the 'wire-racks over- 
head, and then helping Miss Rose- 
berry do the same. Nelly sat with 
her cousin, but Harry preferred to be 
alone, and would not even turn over 
the seat to be more social. He was 
really quite unhappy in leaving his 
mother, his school, and his books, 



14 



TO HICKORY CORNERS. 

but he scorned to show it, and so 
he stared steadily out of the window, 
and never spoke till they reached 
Lowell, where he asked the con- 
ductor so many questions about the 
mills, and the various fabrics made 
there, that the man lost his patience, 
and told him if he wanted to know 
anything else, he'd better get out and 
spend the night there. 

Harry had been perfectly polite, 
and he thought it very hard he 
should be so snubbed. He turned 
back to his window rather sadly, and 
flushed very red, when he saw Mr. 
Gray Moustache laughing at him. 
But when that gentleman leaned over 
and said, " I can tell you all about it 
if you wall sit with me," he rose and 
accepted his offer, and was presently 



T 5 



O VERHEAD. 



engaged in a most animated talk 
about looms and spindles, the use of 
teazles, &c, &c. Miss Roseberry 
who had soothed Nelly, till the tired 
little girl fell asleep with her h'ead 
on her cousin's shoulder, now beheld 
Harry fully embarked on an inti- 
macy with the kindly stranger. 

" Dear me," she said to herself, 
" his mother charged me not to let 
him learn anything, and here he is 
finding out how to weave Bay-State 
shawls, carpets, and I don't know 
what else. What shall I do ? Be- 
sides, this man may not be a suitable 
companion for him, though he cer- 
tainly looks as nice as Uncle Mar- 
low. 

She reflected a little, then said : 
" Harry, don't you want a banana?" 



16 



TO HICKORY CORNERS. 



Harry reached out his hand, and 
took the fruit, but never offered to 
stir from his new friend, and Miss 
Miranda who had a way of hoping 
for the best, resigned herself to 
watching the windings of the log- 
strewn Merrimac, beside which they 
were steaming along, reflecting, " I 
dare say he will get out at Nashua, 
and we shall see no more of him," 
but presently the conductor came 
again to punch the tickets, and be- 
hold the stranger's was a yellow one, 
marked " Milligan's Crossing," just as 
theirs were. 

" Dear, dear," thought Miss Rose- 
berry, " how unfortunate, but it isn't 
likely he will board at the Widow 
arsnips . 

Just then the pop-corn man came 



17 



O VERHEAD. 



along, and Miss Miranda became so 
occupied in the delicate task of get- 
ting her purse out of her pocket 
without rousing Nelly, that she 
ceased to be anxious about Harry, 
and was presently nibbling at the 
sweet, crispy kernels, as happily as 
a squirrel. / 

With her corn and the Merrimac, 
and her naturally cheerful thoughts, 
she found the hours pass swiftly. 

About five o'clock the train stopped 
at a little unpainted shed, perched on 
the edge of a high sand-bank, sur- 
rounded by dense pine woods. 

"A watering station, " thought Miss 
Miranda, but just then the con- 
ductor popped his head in, and yelled 
" Mil'gan's," and Harry's friend be- 
gan to take down the bags, and piled 



iS 



TO HICKORY CORNERS. 



the packages upon his and Harry's 
arms, and presently all four were 
standing alone on the platform of 
the tiny station, and the train had 
slipped away around the corner into 
the forest. 



19 



s" 




^ n^ 4 ' 



Chapter II. 

AT THE WIDOW PARSNIPS\ 

How Miss Roseberry and the 
children liked their boarding place, 
may be learned from the following 
letters, which were mailed to Mrs. 
Marlow the next evening. 

Hickory Corners, N H., June I, 1877. 

Dear Cousin Sarah : 

We had a very comfortable jour- 
ney, and are as nicely settled as you 
could wish. 

Our rooms are on the second floor 
just as you hoped. A big front room 
for Nelly and me, with two south 



AT THE WIDOW PARSNIPS'. 



windows, and one west ; — and a 
smaller one for Harry behind it, just 
across the entry, with one west and 
one north window. They had the 
feather beds on top — of course, but 
I soon attended to that — and the 
husk beds seem quite fresh and clean. 
Mrs. Parsnips is a bright, tidy little 
woman, rather too much of a talker, 
but I don't mind that as long as she 
gives us such delicious bread and 
milk and cream and butter and honey 
and wild strawberries and crispy seed- 
cakes as we had for tea last night. 

It would have done your heart 
good to see Harry eat ! For break- 
fast we had brown bread and fresh 
eggs and pickerel baked in cream. 
Did you ever hear of such a thing! 

The beef at dinner was rather 



21 



OVERHEAD. 



tough, but we were all too hungry 
to care much for that, and Harry 
was so interested in talking with the 
Professor that he ate all I helped 
him to without once making a cross 
face as he used to at home. This 
Professor is the only other boarder 
here, and he is the gentleman that 
caught Nelly when she stumbled out 
of the carriage yesterday you know. 

He is from College, and' is here 

on account of his eves — which the 
occulist said would fail him entirely 
if he did not give them a whole year 
of rest. Mrs. Parsnips told me all 
about him — while she was changing 
the feather beds — he is a second 
cousin of her's — "awful clever" she 
says — and "a master hand for talkin' 
to children, 'cause he lost both of his, 



AT THE WIDOW PARS WITS '. 

and their mother too, with scarlet 
fever — ten years ago." 

And that reminds me to ask you 
if you think Dr. Bonney cares how 
much Harry learns by talking, if he 
doesn't study or read ; for if he does 
care — we must leave here, and that 
would be a pity. For my part I don't 
see how all that the Professor can tell 
him will do him any harm as long as 
they're out of doors all the time, and 
the child eats and sleeps well. I had 
him weighed as you told me. Just 
seventy-five pounds, and Nelly fifty- 
four. Now I am going to call them 
in to go to bed. Don't you worry 
about them one bit. 

Give my love to Uncle Marlow, and 
write soon to your affectionate niece, 
Miranda Roseberry. 



OVERHEAD. 



P. S. They have been out on the 
piazza an hour or more talking about 
the stars. 

Dear Mother : 

I like this place, and I wish you 
were here. We went out on the hill 
last night and we could see the whole 
of the sky. Nelly said she didn't 
know there were so many stars. Dr. 
Willoughby doesn't get mad when 
you ask him questions. They won't 
let him read because something's the 
matter with his eyes, but he says we 
can talk if we can't read. I'm glad 
he lives here. He's going out fishing 
with me some day. He says when I 
weigh eighty he'll take me down 
to the village. He knows some one 

that has a telescope, and we can look 

24 



AT THE WIDOW PARSNIPS' 



at the sun he says. Give my love to 
father. I remembered to hold up my 
head this morning, but I can't re- 
member it all the time there are so 
many interesting things. Good-bye. 
You know you said you would write 
to me to-day. 

Yours, 

11. L. Marlow. 

Dear Mamma : 

I fed the chickens this morning, 
Mrs. Parsnips mixed some meal and 
water. There are twelve, and they're 
all yellow, and just as cunning. And 
the big hens came and tried to eat up 
all their breakfast, and I had to drive 
them away with the spoon. And 
there's Major. He's a nice brown 
dog, and he won't bite ; he only 



OVERHEAD. 



jumps up and licks your face, and 
if you throw a stone he runs and 
brings it to you. You said write 
what I was doing, and that is all 
I did, and it rains this afternoon 
so we can't go out, and I thought 
I would write to you, and please give 
my love to papa. 

So good-bye. 

Your loving 

N ELLY. 

Meanwhile the Professor, or Dr. 
Willoughby, as he told the children 
to call him, was also trying to write a 
letter, but was somewhat interrupted 
by the conversation of the children, 
who were on the piazza outside his 
window. His letter was not im- 
portant, so he amused himself by 

26 



AT THE WIDOW PARSXIPS\ 

listening, and the first thing he heard 
was Nelly saying : 

"Good-bye, Mr. Sun, good-bye till 
you come up on the other side again 
to-morrow/' 

"Yes, but he won't come up on the 
other side again," said Harry. 

"Why not?" asked Nelly. 

" Because he stays in one place 
and we go round him" replied 
Harry. 

"How do you know ?" demanded 
Nelly. 

" The teacher told us so," answered 
Harry, " and besides the Sun is so 
much larger than the Earth that it 
would take one million and two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand globes like 
ours to make one as large as the Sun! 
Now, do you suppose that a great big 



O VERHEAD. 

shiny fellow like the Sun is going to 
take the trouble to go round and 
round this little bit of an Earth' Of 
course not! And when he has so 
many Planets and Comets and things 
to take care of too ! ' 

"How does he take care of them ?" 
asked Nelly. 

" Why, he shines on them, and 
warms them, and makes the trees 
and flowers grow, and keeps them in 
their places, so they won't come 
tumbling down out of the sky/' 

" How can they stay up there, and 
why don't they come tumbling down ? " 
asked Nelly. 

" Why," replied Harry, " don't 
you know when you have a ball 
with a string tied to it, and swing 
it round and round, if you let go 



28 



AT THE WIDOW PARSNIPS'. 

the string a moment, off it will fly 
in a straight line ?" 

" Yes, I know well enough how 
you let your ball fly in my eye," 
replied Nelly. 

"And didn't I say I was sorry?' 
asked Harry. 

" Yes," admitted Nelly. 

"Well, then, that's all right/' said 
Harry. "And so about this ball with 
a string to it, your hand makes it 
move, and it would fly off if the 
string didn't pull it, and so your 
hand and the string work against 
each other, and keep it going round 
and round. And the teacher says all 
the Planets and Stars and things got 
a motion, ever so long ago, in the 
very beginning of everything, that 
makes them move in straight lines, 



29 



O VERHEAD, 



and that's like your hand moving the 
ball you know." 

'" How did they get the motion ? ' 
inquired Nelly. 

" I don't know," replied Harry. 

" Perhaps Cousin Miranda knows," 
said Nelly. 

" But any way," continued Harry, 
" the Sun has the power to pull the 
Planets towards himself, just as the 
string pulls the ball, and so they 
keep moving round and round in 
circles — no, not circles; more like 
ovals. 

" Do you suppose it's true, Harry ?" 

asked Nelly. 

" Why, of course I do," replied 
Harry. " Our teacher knows all 
about it. Any way he says that is 
what they think is the reason. And 



3° 



AT THE WIDOW PARSXIPS\ 



they call the way the Planets move 
one long word, and the w r ay the Sun 
pulls them another ; but I've for- 
gotten both of them." 

"You mean Centripetal and Cen- 
trifugal force," said the Doctor, sud- 
denly speaking through the closed 
blinds, near Harry's ear, and making 
him bound from his seat so hastily 
that Nelly could not help laughing. 

" I should think you were one of 
those balls, and somebody had let 
go the string," said she. 

" O, Doctor Willoughby," said 
Harry, " if you are not busy do 
come out and help me tell Nelly. I 
never can remember the long words." 

So the Doctor came out and took 
a seat between them. 

" Centrifugal is a long word, Nelly," 



3« 



OVERHEAD. 



said he, " but it only means that 
power that makes anything fly off in 
a straight line, and Centripetal force 
is what keeps it from flying off by 
drawing it back. If Centrifugal force 
should be destroyed the Planets would 
all fall to the Sun, or if Centripetal 
force should cease they would fly off 
in straight lines." 

" I'd much rather fly off in a 
straight line than fall into that great 
hot Sun," said Nelly, but sober 
Harry looked so shocked that she 
felt ashamed, and added, gravely: 
"Are Planets the same as Stars ?" 
"The Planets belong to the Sun's 
family," replied the Doctor, "and the 
Stars are their cousins farther off. I 
will tell you the difference some other 
time." 



32 



AT THE WIDOW PARSNIPS 



" It was Sir Isaac Newton who 
found out about these forces, wasn't 
it ?" asked Harry. 




Portrait of Newton, engraved by J. Smith. 

" Yes," replied Dr. Willoughby, 
" more than two hundred years ago. 
Just think, Nelly, he was sitting in 

33 



OVERHEAD. 



his garden, and he saw an apple 
fall, and it set him thinking why it 
should fall to the ground instead 
of flying off to the right or the 
left/' 

"How funny!' exclaimed Nelly. 
" When I see an apple fall, I only 
wonder if it's a good one." 

" Yes," said Harry, " and you run 
and pick it up, and take a bite to 
make sure." 

"Course I do," said Nelly, "it's 
the best way to find out." 

" It made no difference to Sir 
Isaac Newton," resumed the Doctor, 
" whether the apple was good or not. 
It was its falling that interested him, 
and he thought it over, until he came 
to the conclusion that the Earth has 
some power to draw or attract toward 



34 



AT THE WIDOW PAPSNIPS'- 



itself all falling bodies, like apples, 
or hail-stones, or leaves, or rain-drops. 
This power is called Attraction of 
Gravitation. If it were not for this 
power, as the Earth turns on its axis, 
everything would fly off, as pebbles 
and bits of earth fly from a carriage- 
wheel turning swiftly." 

"O, how dreadful that would be," 
said Nelly. 

"You needn't be afraid, Nelly," 
remarked Harry, " there's no danger 
of it." 

" No, this beautiful law of attrac- 
tion prevents it," said the Professor, 
" and Newton discovered that this 
power does not belong to the Earth 
alone, but that the Sun and the 
Planets all pull or attract each other, 
just as the Earth does the apple. 



35 



OVERHEAD. 



Indeed every particle in the universe 
attracts every other particle/' 

" The Sun has more power than 
the Planets, hasn't he ? ' asked 
Harry. 

" Yes/' replied the Doctor, " be- 
cause he has more particles of mat- 
ter. The attraction depends upon 
two things. The distance one body 
is from another, and the number of 
particles a body contains. The more 
particles a body contains, the more 
power it has to attract another body. 
The nearer two bodies are together, 
the more strongly they attract each 
other. The Sun attracts the Planets 
nearest to him more strongly than 
those which are farther away. It is 
so beautifully arranged that all the 

heavenly bodies are kept in their 

36 



AT THE WIDOW pARSNIPS'. 



proper places by this same law of 
Gravitation, which makes the apple 
fall to the ground." 

" I don't understand it very well, ,, 
said Nelly, with a sigh ; " I thought 
it fell because it was ripe." 

" So it does, Nelly," replied the 
Doctor, pulling her curls, " but when 
it is ripe, the stem grows dry and 
weak, so the apple has to come when 
the Earth pulls it ; w T hile before it 
was ripe, the stem was strong and 
fresh, and held it tight to the 
tree." 

At this moment Miss Miranda 
appeared in the doorway, and 
said ; 

" When the stars begin to peep, 
"Little girls must go to sleep." 

Nelly ran to her at once, for to tell 

37 



OVERHEAD. 



the truth she was getting a little tired 
of so much wise talk, but Harry 
begged for fifteen minutes more, 
which she granted him on account 
of his superior age. 




38 



Chapter III. 

PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

" O, see those two stars so close 
together!' exclaimed Nelly, as they 
ran out on the piazza, one clear 
evening. " One red and one yellow. 
If I was a fairy I'd jump right 
across." 

" You couldn't, Nelly, if you were 
the biggest fairy that ever lived," 
said Harry. 

" Well, Id fly across, then," said 
Nelly, i 

" You'd have to fly millions and 
millions of miles," said Harry. 

" O, I don't believe it," said Nelly. 

39 



OVERHEAD. 



" They look such a little bit of a 
way apart — not any wider than this 
bench. " 

" They are not so near each other 
as they look," said Professor Wil- 
loughby, who had just then joined 
them. " It is like the. steeple and the 
flag-staff over there. They seem to 
be close together because they are 
nearly in a line from us, but you 
know the flag-staff is on this side of 
the river, and the church on the 
other." 

"O, I see," said Nelly. "Well, 
how far off is the red star from 

US : 

" Mars, the red star," replied the 
Professor, "is millions of miles away, 
and Saturn, the pale yellow star that 

looks so near it, is still farther away." 

40 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

" What is that bright star shining- 
through the elm-tree ?" asked Harry. 

" That is Jupiter, answered the 
Professor, "the largest of the planets. 
And there is Venus down near the 
sunset. See how bright and beauti- 
ful she is! She will set in a mo- 
ment." 

"Yes. There! she's gone!' ex- 
claimed Harry, as Venus disappeared 
below the horizon. 

" Do these stars all go round the 
Sun, as Harry says our Earth does?" 
inquired Nelly. 

"Yes," replied the Professor, "the 
Planets all move round the Sun, with 
our Earth, like one family, and all 
receive light and heat from him, just 
as we do, and they are called Planets, 
from the Latin word which means to 



41 



OVERHEAD. 



wander, because they seem to wander 
about the sky/' 

" Don't all the stars we see go 
round the Sun, too ? " asked Nelly. 

" No, some of them are called 
fixed stars" replied the Professor, 
" because they are always in the 
same places, and they are supposed 
to be suns like ours, and to shine 
with their own light They seem to 
us to change their places because 
our Earth is moving by them all the 
time. ,, 

"Yes, I know/' said Harry, "it's 
just the way the houses and trees fly 
by when you are in the cars." 

" Do you believe they are really 
worlds like this ? ' asked Nelly ; 
" Harry says they are." 

" Yes, Nelly," answered the Pro- 



42 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

fessor, " and Mars, the red star, is 
supposed to be most like our 
Earth. With a telescope they can 
see two white glistening spots oppo- 
site each other, just as our polar 




Mars, showing snow-cap at the pole, and the lands and seas. 

regions covered with ice and snow 
might look at such a distance. Then 
there are bluish places which look as 
our oceans and seas might, and red- 
dish portions that may be land." 

43 



O VERHEAD. 

' O, I wonder if anybody lives on 
Mars, and looks over at our Earth ! ,: 
exclaimed Nelly. 

" From Mars our Earth would 
look something as Venus does to us, 
very bright and shining," said the 
Professor. 

" O, I wish we could go over there 
and find out all about it," sighed 
Nelly. 

" Which is nearest the Sun, Venus 
or our Earth ?" inquired Harry. 

" Venus," replied the Professor. 

" Then, is it hotter there than it is 
here?" asked Harry. 

" Yes," answered the Professor, 
" and there is one Planet where it is 
supposed to be hotter even than upon 
Venus, and the Sun must look a great 
deal larger there too because he is 



44 




Proportional size of the Sun as seen from the different planets. 

45 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

millions of miles nearer. It is Mer- 
cury. He is the nearest Planet to 
the Sun as far as we know. His 
path is so near the Sun, and he is so 
small and the Sun so bright that it 
is difficult to see him without a tele- 
scope. /-■ 

"Did you ever see him? ,! asked 
Nelly. 

" I think I saw him once," replied 
the Professor. " It was just after 
sunset, and the sky was bright and 
clear. I looked through my opera- 
glass and saw a small bright star in 
the brightest part of the sky. It 
looked almost like a spark." 

" I wish I could see him," said 
Harry. "When I grow up I mean 
to be an astronomer, and have a 
telescope of my own." 



47 



OVERHEAD. 



" Perhaps you will see him then/' 
replied the Professor. " The great 
astronomer Copernicus never saw 
him** although he often looked for 




Portrait of Copernicus, engraved by J. Falck. 

him ; but he had no telescope, and 
Mercury can only be seen without 
one in certain parts of his orbit." 



* On account of the haze and fog in his latitude. 

48 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

" Perhaps he was near-sighted," 
said Harry. 

" Why didn't he have a telescope?" 
asked Nelly. 

" He lived before they were in- 
vented," responded the Professor. " In 
1609, about seventy years after he 
died, another great astronomer called 
Galileo made the first telescope." 

" How did he know how to make 
it ? " asked Harry. 

" The story is," replied the Pro- 
fessor, "that the children of a Dutch 
spectacle-maker, playing with some 
of his glasses one day, happened to 
put two of them together in such a 
way, that in looking through them, 
the tower of a church near by, 
seemed to be brought nearer and 
made to lo >k larger." 



OVERHEAD. 

" I wish I had some to play with," 

said Nelly. 

" Hush ! " said Harry, but the Pro- 
fessor went on without seeming* to 

notice her. 

"Galileo heard of this discovery, 
and studied upon it, and tried a great 
many experiments, until at last he suc- 
ceeded in making a telescope which 
seemed to bring the stars nearer, so 
that he could see them a great deal 
better/' 

" Did they look larger ? ' asked 
Nelly. 

" Yes, " replied the Professor, "and 
beside that, Galileo saw a good many 
new things. One of these was that 
Jupiter has four moons." 

Just here Miss Roseberry came 

out to look for the children. 

50 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

"Only think, Cousin Miranda/' 
said Nelly, " Doctor Willoughby says 
the Jupiter people have four moons. 
Musn't that be nice?" 

" That would be just one apiece 
for us if we were there/' said Miss 
Miranda, taking the chair the Doc- 
tor offered her, and drawing Nelly 
into her lap. 

" How astonished he must have 
been when he first saw them," said 
Harry. 

" He was indeed," responded the 
Professor. " No one had ever 
dreamed of such a thing before, and 
ignorant people would not believe 
that he had seen them, but insisted 
it was something in his telescope. 
Now, we have larger and more pow- 
erful- telescopes, and we know that he 



OVERHEAD. 



was right in that, and in other things 
that people would not believe in his 
time." 

" Does Jupiter with his four moons 
come next to our Earth ? ' asked 
Harry. 




" No," replied the Professor. 
" Mercury is nearest the Sun, next 
comes Venus, then our Earth, and 
then Mars the red star ; then a great 
manv smaller Planets called Aste- 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

roids, then Jupiter, with his four at- 
tendant moons, or Satellites as they 
are called. " 

" I should think," said Nelly, 




The planet Jupiter, as seen by Tacchini, at Palermo, on the night of 
January 28th, 1878. 



" that the Sun must be something 
like that yellow hen we saw in 
the door-yard this morning, with all 



53 



OVERHEAD. 

her little chickens running round and 
round her." 

"And the fixed stars," said Miss 
Roseberry, " are like the yellow roses 
by the fence that do not change their 
places, though they are about the 
same size and color as the chicks." 

"Ah! Miss Miranda," said the 
Professor, with a pleasant smile, " I 
see that before I finish my dull, 
scientific book, I must bring it to 
you for some poetical touches." 

"And where does Saturn come?" 
persisted Harry, who was too prac- 
tical to enjoy these wanderings from 
the subject' in question, and who 
would have been an apt pupil for 
Mr. Gradgrind." 

" Saturn's path is next outside of 
Jupiter's," resumed the Professor. 

54 



PLAXETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

"He is a still more wonderful fellow, 
with his brilliant rings and eight 
moons ; and outside of him are 
Uranus and Neptune, who also re- 
volve around our Sun, but are so 
distant from us that we cannot see 
them without a telescope, and even 
with one, can discover very little 
about them. ,, 

" Are you really going to write 
a book, Doctor?' asked Harry. 

" If I can only get my eyes well 
enough," he answered, looking so 
sad that Miss Roseberry hastened to 
change the subject by calling atten- 
tion to the fire-flies, and presently 
Harry and Nelly were racing up and 
down trying to catch these " night- 
watchmen of Fairyland, " as their 
cousin called them. 

55 



OVERHEAD. 

" How much browner and health- 
ier your little charges look/' said the 
Professor, turning to Miss Rose- 
berry. 

ki Yes ! Don't they ? ' she re- 
sponded. " Harry does not seem at 
all the same boy that he was when 
we left Boston. I wish his mother 
could see him." 

" I fancy he will soon be claiming 
my promise about the telescope, " 
said Professor Willoughby, "but I 
am afraid I shall have to postpone 
it awhile, as my friend who owns 
the telescope is out of town. Do 
you think Harry would be content 
with a picnic instead until he re- 
turns : 

" I am sure he would," answered 

Miss Roseberry heartily. She could 

56 



PLANETS VERSUS CHICKENS. 

not help thinking how much less 
trying that would be for the Doc- 
tor's eyes, and how much better 
for the children than an evening 
excursion. 




57 



Chapter IV. 

THE PICNIC. 

The following Tuesday Harry 
came running home from the village 
store triumphantly declaring that he 
had balanced eighty pounds. "And 
I took my knife and my compass out 
of my pocket too/' 

" Then hurra for the picnic on 
Thursday ! " cried the Professor, who 
had already explained the change of 
plan to the children. " Run quickly 
and tell your cousin to be ready 
while I consult mine about the turn- 
overs and doughnuts/' 

Saturday morning accordingly saw 

58 



THE PICNIC. 



them bestowing themselves, the bas- 
kets, jugs, shawls and umbrellas in the 
two-seated open wagon, which Abner 
Parsnips had agreed to drive, in order 
to guide them to the best road to the 
summit of Hackmatack mountain. 

Professor Willoughby and Harry 
shared the front seat with Abner, who 
was a good-natured lad of sixteen, 
leaving the back seat to Miss Rose- 
berry, Nelly, and the shawls. A little, 
white-faced, long-legged colt, ambled 
awkwardly after the old sorrel mare, 
and Major, the brown setter, was also 
in attendance. 

" See, Nelly/' said Miss Miranda, 
"we have almost as many satellites 
as Jupiter." 

"How? where ? ,: said the child, 
gazing about her. 



59 



OVERHEAD. 



"Why, don't you see?" said Harry, 
" there's Sorrel, and Lightfoot, and 
Major already." 

" O yes," interrupted Nelly; "now 
if Kitty Gray would only come too ! 
O, Cousin Miranda, may I go and 
get her ?" 

" I think she would be happier 
at home," replied Miss Roseberry. 
" Kittens are not fond of traveling, 
and we must not leave Mrs. Parsnips 
all alone." 

Nelly looked a little disappointed, 
but the last basket was now stowed 
away, Abner cried " Ge dab ! " w 7 hich 
was his method of starting his horse, 
and Nelly forgot her regrets in the 
excitement of waving a very small 
handkerchief in farewell to the 
widow, till they turned a corner, 



60 



THE PICNIC. 



and were fairly out of sight of the 
house. 

Harry meanwhile had imprudently 
attempted to dazzle Abner with some 
of his own recently acquired knowl- 
edge in regard to Jupiter's and 
Saturn's many moons ; but as Abner 
only responded, "O pshaw!" he gave 
him up, and relapsed into offended 
silence. 

" O dear!' said Miss Miranda, 
suddenly. The Professor turned 
towards her in concern. 

" Must we go up this long hill, 
Abner?' she was asking. "I am 
sure it will be horribly steep on the 
other side." 

Abner grinned, and ruthlessly re- 
plied, " O, that ain't nothin' ; there's 
worse a-comin' when we git into Slab- 



6r 



OVERHEAD. 

town. The folks there don't know 
enough to keep the roads anyway 
decent ! ' Poor Miss Roseberry 
looked a little pale. 

The Professor felt sorry for her. 
She was generally so blithe, he was 
surprised to see that she was really 
frightened. 

" Would it comfort you to remem- 
ber/' said he, " that the most rugged 
of these hills, is, in proportion to the 
rest of the Earth's surface, no more 
than the roughness of the peel of an 
orange ?" 

He looked at her w T ith such evident 
sympathy and kindness that she could 
not help smiling back, but before she 
could reply, Nelly exclaimed, " I 
know a story about an orange! Once 

there was a fly standing on the top 

62 



THE PICNIC. 



of an orange, and another fly came 
crawling up the side of it, and the fly 
• at the top said, 'Aha ! this orange is 
round ! ' And the other fly said, 
1 How do you know ?' and the top fly 
said, • Why, when I met you walking 
on the table a while ago, I could see 
the whole of you at once ; but when 
you crawled up this orange I saw 
your head first, and then the tops of 
your wings, and then the rest of you ; 
so now I know it must be round/ 
and the other fly said, ' I don't be- 
lieve it/ So that's the way they know 
the world is round, because they can 
see the top of a ship first/' 

"O Nelly!" said Harry, "that 
isn't the way to tell it ! ' 

"Yes, it is,' said Nelly, "for I've 

seen a picture of an orange with 

63 



VERHEAD. 

two flies on it in our teacher's 
book." 

" I suppose you know all the ways 
to tell that the Earth is round, don't 
you, Doctor?" asked Harry. 

" I believe I do, Harry," replied 
Dr. Willoughby, "unless you have 




discovered some new way." Abner 
grinned, Harry turned his back upon 
him, and replied with some spirit : 

"You know I couldn't!" Then 
recovering himself, he added : " but 



6 4 



THE PICNIC. 



I remember two ways our teacher 
told us : one is, if you travel right 
along in the same direction, you will 
come back to the place you started 
from ; and the other way is, that 




Phenomena produced by the sphericity of the earth. 

when a ship sails from you the hull 
goes out of sight first, and by and by 
the masts, just as if she was going 
down hill, and when she is sailing 

towards you, you see the top of the 

65 



overhead: 

mast first, and the hull afterwards, 
as though she was climbing up 

hill." 

" That's just what I told you," 
cried Nelly. 

" I think the prettiest way to prove 
it," said Miss Roseberry, " is by the 
round shadow the Earth casts upon 
the Moon in an eclipse. You know, 
Nelly, the Earth could not cast a 
round shadow, in every position, as 
it does, if it were not round itself. 
Look at the shadow of your head in 
the road now." Nelly had just taken 
off her hat for a moment. 

" Yes," said the Professor, pleased 
that Miss Roseberry was forgetting 
her fears, " and see what a straight 
shadow those bars make. That is 
the sort of shadow the Earth would 

66 



THE PICNIC. 



cast, if it were flat, as in early times 
every one believed; and they thought 
that if you only went far enough, you 
would come to the edge, and fall 
off," 

"Why, that's just what I thought!" 
said Nelly. 

" Doctor Willoughby," said Harry, 
" how is it about eclipses ? Does the 
Earth come in between the Sun and 
the Moon?" 

" Yes," replied the Professor, u the 
Earth and the Moon have no light 
of their own, but look bright because 
the Sun shines on them ; and some- 
times as they go round the Sun, the 
Earth comes between the Sun and 
the Moon, and cuts off all the Sun's 
light, and throws a dark shadow on 

the Moon. But the Moon is not 

67 



OVERHEAD. 



wholly darkened, our atmosphere re- 
flects light enough to give her a dull 
red color. If she passes through the 
centre of the Earth's shadow, she is 



m Mil IlillPlf El v il MMmmSiMMMmiMii^ li i •; 



-/ " 









111 




Eclipse of the Moon. 



hidden nearly two hours. Wise men 
can tell exactly when these eclipses 
will take place, and you can always 
find a list of them in the almanac/' 



THE PICNIC. 



" And when there is an eclipse of 
the Sun, does the Moon come in be- 
tween the Earth and the Sun ? ' 
asked Harry. 

" Yes," replied the Professor, " the 



w--mmm* 



;YT::ri 







- ■ 



:M m&. .:,: ; -.:: i ; : : = '^mmU^m*£m tLSSfea' . , 



Eclipse of the Sun. 

Moon is much smaller than the Sun 
you know, but she is so much nearer 
to us, that when she is in the right 
place, she can hide the Sun entirely ; 

and then the sky becomes so dark 

6 9 



OVERHEAD. 

that the Planets and some of the 
brighter Stars can be plainly seen. 
This seldom occurs however. 

" When the Moon covers only one 
side of the Sun, the eclipse is said to 
be partial/' 

"I remember seeing an annular 
eclipse once," said Miss Roseberry, 
" and how beautiful it was," 

" What is that ? ' asked Harry, 
looking at the Professor, who accord- 
ingly replied : 

" That is when the Moon comes 
between us and the Sun in such 
a way as to cover the middle, and 
leave a bright ring all round the 
edge like a border of gold, and as 
annulus is the Latin for ring, it is 
called an annular eclipse." 

" Is it the Moon's coming in be- 



70 



THE PICNIC. 



tween, that makes it dark at night ?" 
inquired Nelly. 

"Why, no ! " said Harry, glad of 
a chance to administer another dose 
of his superior knowledge to the re- 
luctant and unappreciative Abner. 
" The Earth keeps turning round 
like a top, and when one side is 
turned towards the Sun it is day 
there because the Sun shines on it; 
but when that side is turned away 
from the Sun it is night, because it is 
in the shade." 

" Isn't it more like a ball with a 
knitting-needle run through it than it 
is like a top ? ' said Miss Rose- 
berry. 

"Yes," said the Professor. "Your 
knitting-needle is a good illustration 
of that axis we are obliged to imagine 



71 



OVERHEAD. 



the Earth turning upon in order to 
understand the daily change from 
darkness to light." 

Here Abner stopped by the wayside 
watering-trough to let the horse drink, 
and of course the children as well as 
Major and the colt found that they 
were thirsty too ; so Miss Roseberry 
took Nelly's silver mug out of the 
basket under the seat, and the Pro- 
fessor kindly offered to go up-stream 
a little way and fill it. When he re- 
turned, he presented Miss Miranda 
with an oak leaf full of wild straw- 
berries, which pleased her as much 
as the water did Nelly. 

When all had drank, and Abner 
had made friends with Harry by 
allowing him to climb down on the 
shaft and replace the check-rein, 



72 



THE PICNIC. 



much to Miss Roseberry's secret ter- 
ror, they went on ; the awkward gam- 
bols of the colt giving them many 
amusing illustrations of partial eclipse 
as he darted first to one, and then to 
the other side of the road, in front of 
his much-enduring mother. 

" He will certainly get run over!' 
said Miss Roseberry, as he blundered 
against the wheel for the tenth time 
in as many minutes. 

"I never heerd of a t:ase," said 
Abner, with such philosophic calm- 
ness, that Miss Roseberry dismissed 
her anxiety, wisely reflecting that if 
the owner of the colt were not un- 
easy, she ought not to be. The road 
now became so steep and stony, 
that the Professor and Harry got out 
of the wagon to lighten the load, and 



73 



O VERHEAD. 



before long Miss Roseberry and 
Nelly decided to do the same; the 
former moved by her fears of an 
upset, the latter by the attractions 
of wayside berries and flowers, and 
her usual desire to imitate her 
brother. 

They all supposed they should 
presently resume their' seats, but 
somehow they found the change of 
position so restful, the breeze so re- 
freshing, the winding road so al- 
luring, that they straggled happily 
on, now chatting, now silent, now 
altogether, now singly, and then in 
couples, sitting to rest on a fallen 
tree, while the Professor cut canes 
for them all in the alder thicket, 
drinking from the brook that sang 
along beside them, in leaf cups of his 



74 



THE PICNIC. 



twisting, Harry and Nelly loading 
themselves with specimens of moss, 
oddly streaked pebbles, wild roses, 
and bunch-berry flowers, which they 
gladly flung into the wagon whenever 
it overtook them, till at last to their 
surprise and pleasure the grass-grown 
track they had followed ended sud- 
denly in a ledge of bald granite, and 
two minutes of scrambling carried 
them to the summit of old Hack- 
matack. It was now twelve o'clock, 
and even the wide beauty of the view 
spread before them could not long 
divert the children's minds from the 
luncheon baskets, so while Abner 
unharnessed and fed Sorrel, Miss 
Miranda selected a flat rock shaded 
by a grove of wind-twisted spruces, 
and the Professor and Harry brought 



75 



OVERHEAD. 



thither the ample stores of eatables 
and drinkables which Mrs. Parsnips 
had provided in generous style. O ! 
how good the cold coffee tasted, and 
surely there never was anything bet- 
ter than the thick slices of bread and 
butter and honey, unless it might be 
the mince turnovers with goodly slabs 
of cream cheese ; the widow, unlike 
many city housekeepers, considering 
that form of pie as appropriate in 
June as in January. Abner bash- 
fully conveyed his share to a remote 
nook in the rocks, where Harry by 
and by discovered him sound asleep, 
his hat over his face, and a score 
of ants running unheeded over him, 
busily appropriating the crumbs of 
ginger-bread and pie-crust with which 
he was sprinkled. 



Chapter V. 

GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

" Don't you think Doctor Wil- 
loughby was very kind to choose the 
longest day in the year for our pic- 
nic, Harry?" said Miss Roseberry 
during dinner, as she helped him to 
jelly. 

"It doesn't seem very long to me," 
said Nelly. 

" Is it really longer than all the 
rest?" said Harry. "And why is 
it ? " 

"It is the 21st of June, " replied 
Miss Roseberry ; " don't you know 
that in the summer we have long 

77 



OVERHEAD. 



days and short nights, and in the 
winter short days and long nights?" 

" O, yes ! " said Harry ; " I know 
in winter we have to light the gas 
before tea, and now it's light till 
nearly bed-time/' 

" Very good/' said his cousin ; 
" that shows that you have noticed 
that summer days are much longer 
than winter ones, and now you can 
remember that the 21st of June is 
the very longest of all, and that after 
to-day it will be dark a little bit ear- 
lier every night until nearly Christ- 
mas-time. But the difference is so 
very slight you will not notice it for 
some weeks to come. The shortest 
day and the longest night come the 
21st of December." 

" I don't know anything about long 

78 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

nights/' said Harry; "they always 
seem short to me, except when I 
have the toothache/' 

V I think the night before Christ- 
mas is very long/' said Nelly. 

" You know, Harry, how many 
times we always wake up before it 
is light enough to see what we have 
got in our stockings/' 

"Very true, Nelly," remarked the 
Professor gravely, as he removed the 
shell from a hard-boiled tgg. 

" But you haven't told me yet why 
the days are so long in summer," per- 
sisted Harry. 

" The knitting-needle through the 
ball that your cousin told you of, 
would help you understand that," 
said the Doctor; "perhaps this egg 
and my pencil will do as well. The 

79 



OVERHEAD. 

egg is the Earth, the pencil is its 
imaginary axis, and this glass of jelly 
will do for the Sun. If the axis were 
upright," said he, holding the pencil 
perpendicularly, and moving it, egg 
and all, slowly around the jelly-glass, 
" the days and nights would be of 
equal length, but as it is in a slant- 
ing position," sloping it accordingly, 
" they are unequal except in spring 
and autumn. As the Earth moves 
in her path round the Sun, her axis 
being slanted; she sometimes turns 
the North Pole to the Sun, and 
sometimes the South Pole ; that is, 
sometimes one end of the pencil, 
and sometimes the other. When the 
North Pole is inclined towards 
the Sun, the Earth is in such a posi- 
tion that the Sun is above the horizon 

80 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

in the Northern Hemisphere much 
longer than he is below it, and 
our days are longer than our nights. 
Look, Nelly, this little bit of shell 
which is still sticking to the tgg, 
between the top and the middle, we 
will call Boston ; and you see that in 
turning the egg round, with its North 
Pole towards the jelly-glass, Boston 
will be in the light much longer than 
it is in the dark. But when the North 
Pole is turned away from the Sun, 
then he is below the horizon longer 
than he is above it, which will give 
our Boston long nights and short 
days."^- 

"I understand, " said Harry. Nel- 
ly took a second turnover and said 
nothing. 

" What makes the summer days 

Si 



OVERHEAD. 



warmer than the winter days?" asked 
Harry, regaining his zest for knowl- 
edge after refreshing himself with a 



mugful of cold coffee. 




The Earth as seen from the Sun at the Summer Solstice, June 21 
(noon at London). 



"When the North Pole is slanted 
towards the Sun/' explained the ever- 
ready Professor, "we who live in the 
Northern Hemisphere have our sum- 



82 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

mer, for the Sun is very nearly over- 
head, and we have more heat from him 
when he is directly above us, and his 
rays come straight to us, than when 
he is nearer the horizon, and the rays 
come slantingly. 




The Earth, as seen from the Sun at the Winter Solstice, Dec. 21 
(noon at London). 

When the South Pole slopes 
towards the Sun, the people in the 
Southern Hemisphere have their 



OVERHEAD. 



summer, and we, being partly turned 
away from the Sun, have less heat, 
and we call it winter." 

Here the Professor ate his egg, 




The Earth, as seen from the Sun at the Vernal Equinox. March 21 
(noon at London.) 

after removing Boston and the pen- 
cil, and adding a pinch of salt. 

"And besides, Harry," said Miss 
Miranda, "the Sun hasn't time to give 
us much heat in the winter, he is above 

the horizon such a little while." 

34 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN, 

" I ought also to tell you," resumed 
the Professor, " that in spring and 
autumn, about the 21st of March, 
and the 21st of September, the axis 




The Earth, as seen from the Sun at the Autumnal Equinox, Sept. 21 
(noon at London.) 



of the Earth is sloped sidewise to 
the Sun, so the days and nights are 
equal, and the weather is neither hot 
nor cold. At the Equator, the Sun 

S5 



OVERHEAD. 



is nearly overhead, and it is always 
hot, and the days and nights are 
equal in length. But at the Poles, 
the day is six months long, that is, 
the Sun is in sight six months at 
a time, and then disappears for about 
six months, making both night and 
winter w T onderful to think of." 

" Only one day and one night in a 
whole year," said Miss Roseberry. 

" What an unfortunate night that 
would be to have a toothache, Harry, 
or to wait for Christmas presents, 
Nelly," laughed the Professor; "but," 
he continued, "these long nights of 
the Polar regions are not as dark as 
our nights although they have only 
a faint twilight instead of the Sun — 
yet the Moon and Stars shine twice 
as brightly there, and the ice and 



S6 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

snow reflect the light so that people 
can see to go about, and even to 
read." 

" And then they have the beautiful 
Northern Lights," added Miss Rose- 
berry. 

" Yes," responded Dr. Willoughby, 
" the Aurora Borealis is far more 
brilliant there than we ever see it, 
illuminating the whole heavens with 
streams of red and white light, indeed 
of all the colors of the rainbow, and 
nearly as bright as our full moon." 

" O, how lovely it must be!" said 
Nelly ; " I should like to go there." 

" In midsummer," continued the 
Professor, " although the Sun re- 
mains visible for several months, it 
is not as bright in the evening as in 

the middle of the day, but shines 

87 



'OVERHEAD. 

with a soft radiance like our moon- 
light, and one can look at it without 
pain or injury to the eyes." 

" So you can here, if you have a 
piece of colored glass," said Harry. 

"■•I have sometimes thought," said 
Miss Roseberry, " that I would be 
willing to endure the hardships of an 
arctic voyage for the sake of seeing 
the Aurora in its perfection." 

" Heaven forbid," said the Pro- 
fessor, " but it must be a magnificent 
sight, with its streams of varying 
color in incessant quivering motion. 
No wonder ignorant people looked 
upon it as a sign of coming trouble, 
or fancied that they saw supernatural 
armies contending in chariots of 
fire." 

" You know Whittier calls it 'the 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

midnight sword-dance of the North- 
ern sky,' ■ said Miss Roseberry. 
• • • * * * 

After dinner Nelly soon followed 
Abner's example, and fell fast asleep 
in the shade on the pile of shawls. 
Miss Roseberry sat near with the 
last Atlantic Monthly in her hand, 
but her eyes often wandered from 
Mr. Aldrich's serial to the lovely 
panorama of field, lake and forest, 
spread at her feet. The Professor 
ingeniously arranged an open um- 
brella over her by lashing it to the 
branch of a tree, after which he and 
Harry rambled away in search of 
geological specimens, and all became 
so still that the birds and squirrels 
peeping out were convinced that the 

late intruders were quite gone, and 

8 9 



OVERHEAD. 



they presently ventured fully forth 
and began to pick up the fragments 
of the feast, turning now and then 
a bright, inquisitive eye upon the 
umbrella, which they doubtless re- 
garded as an unusually large mush- 
room of surprisingly sudden growth. 

Thus the afternoon passed quietly 
away, until the Sun sank low, and a 
cooler air began to stir the spruce 
plumes. 

Abner was now awake and in- 
dulging in a pipe of tobacco ; Nelly, 
also aroused, was first hunting about 
for checkerberries, then feeding Sor- 
rel and Light-foot with tufts of grass, 
chattering like a mocking-bird all the 
while. 

The Professor and Harry had re- 
turned with their pockets full of stony 



9 o 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MO U XT A IN. 

treasures, and were eagerly display- 
ing for Miss Roseberry's admiration, 
clusters of clear quartz crystals, flakes 
of mica two inches long, darkly glow- 
ing lumps of garnets, and fragments 
of rose-colored quartz as delicately 
tinted as the sunset clouds. 

11 I had no idea there was anything 
but granite in these New Hampshire 
hills," she frankly exclaimed; " I am 
ashamed of my ignorance!" 

Somehow the Professor was not at 
all shocked ; he found it decidedly 
pleasant to have her honest, blue eyes 
looking to him for information; he en- 
joyed watching her plump, pretty 
hands turning the rough stones over 
and over as he told her about them. 

But now the children were hungry 

and thirsty again, so their elders took 

91 



OVERHEAD. 

the remaining cakes and sandwiches 
from the basket, packed the crystals, 
&c, carefully in their stead, and de- 
cided to postpone science till a more 
convenient season. 

After supper, Abner harnessed the 
horse, packed baskets and shawls into 
the wagon, but failed to persuade any 
of his passengers to ride down the 
first series of rocky steeps. Miss 
Miranda was really afraid, Nelly 
thought proper to be timid too ; the 
Professor was too gallant to desert 
his ladies, and Harry of course fol- 
lowed his example. 

So Abner grinned and started 
alone, promising to wait for them 
at the watering-trough, Major aftef 
some hesitation followed him, and 

the colt resumed his devious devotion 

92 



GOOD-BYE TO THE MOUNTAIN. 

to his mother. The Professor having- 
foreseen that Miss Roseberry would 
prefer walking, had secretly looked 
forward to a pleasant chat w T ith her, 
supposing the children would choose 
to ride, or w T ould ramble in advance. 

He was sadly disappointed how- 
ever, for Nelly was just tired enough 
to cling closely to her cousin's hand, 
and Harry was provokingly deter- 
mined to find out all about the Moon, 
which now nearly full, was rising in 
rosy beauty above the distant moun- 
tains. He concealed his annoyance 
as well as he could, but was not quite 
amiable enough to gratify the boy's 
ill-timed thirst for information. 

" We've had science enough for 
one day, Harry, I think," he said, "I 
will tell you all I can Monday night, 



93 



OVERHEAD. 



when she will be quite full. Now, 
Miss Roseberry, you have stumbled 
twice, — indeed you had better take 
my arm, — this uncertain light makes 
walking dangerous on a stony road." 

Miss Miranda complied rather shy- 
ly. Somehow she was quite willing 
to have the children stay. A new 
gentleness in the Doctor's manner 
suddenly made him seem less like 
the elderly, absent-minded scholar 
she had heretofore considered him. 
She was glad when they presently 
overtook Abner and the wagon ; 
gladder still when half an hour later 
saw them safely alighting at Mrs. 
Parsnips' gate. 

Why should Abner have grinned ? 



94 



Chapter VI. 

NEWS FROM HOME. 

The next morning's mail brought 
a letter from Mrs. Marlow which 
altered the plans of the whole 
party. 

" You will be sorry to hear, dear 
Miranda, " she wrote, " that your 
Uncle has been less and less well 
ever since you and the children went 
away, and yesterday he actually 
fainted in his office. You can 
imagine how frightened I was when 
he came home in a carriage, and how 
Dr. Bonney scowled and scolded and 
stamped about the room. The result 

95 



OVERHEAD. 



is that we are to go out of towa next 
week, and Henry is not to go near 
the office again till September at 
least. I am not sure where we shall 
go. For my own part I should pre- 
fer to join you and the children at 
Hickory Corners. Your descriptions 
quite fascinate me, and I know your 
Uncle would like that old Professor 
you all quote so much. ,, Miss Rose- 
berry winced a little here. " How- 
ever, Henry is more fond of the sea- 
shore than the mountains, and as the 
Doctor thinks bathing will be good 
for him, we have written to a place 
called Lotus Bay, where Mrs. Bon- 
ney went once, and liked very much. 
We have not had a reply yet, but if 
we go there, I think you and the 

children had better join us as soon as 

9 6 



NEWS FROM HOME. 



we are settled, say the last of this 
month. It seems a pity to move them 
when they are doing so well, but I 
know they will help amuse their 
father, and of course I do want to 
see them myself. You must stay as 
long as we do, and we will have 
some cosy times together." 

Miss Roseberry was strangely de- 
pressed by this letter, and the worst 
of it was that she could not feel sure 
it was wholly because of her Uncle's 
ill-health. She had always supposed 
herself very fond of the sea-shore, but 
now she experienced no special joy 
in the prospect of going there. The 
"cosy times" at Lotus Bay did not 
seem to her as alluring as the study 
of astronomy and geology at the 
Widow Parsnips'. 



97 



OVERHEAD. 

No other letter came for several 
days however, and on Monday even- 
ing the full Moon and the Professor 
kept their appointments, and met 
Miss Miranda and the children on 
the piazza after tea. 

" Now, Nelly, sit down and keep 
still," said Harry; "Doctor Wil- 
loughby's going to tell us all about 
the Moon." 

" Come and see the Moon, Kitty," 
said Nelly, catching up the unwilling 
cat as she obeyed Harry. 

" Perhaps she had rather see 
the Milky-way," said Miss Rose- 
berry. 

At all events Kitty would not be 
coaxed to remain, and presently 
capered away in pursuit of a large 
cricket. 

9 3 



NEWS FROM HOME. 



" What is the Milky-way ? " asked 
Nelly, resigning herself. 

"I know," said Harry; " it's that 




sort of whitish cloud that stretches 
over the sky sometimes. You can't 
see it now. I suppose the Moon's 



99 



O VERHEAD. 

too bright to let it show. It's all 
made up of little bits of stars." 

" Millions and millions of them," 
said the Professor. " Galileo dis- 
covered that with his wonderful 
telescope." 

" O, how big the Moon is ! " ex- 
claimed Nelly, suddenly changing 
the subject. " It looks as big as the 
Sun!" 

" So it does, Nelly," said the Pro- 
fessor, " and yet it is smaller than 
any of the stars. It is about a 
third as large as Mercury, and its 
diameter a little more than one 
fourth of the diameter of the Earth. 
Why do you suppose it looks so 
large ? ' 

" Something the matter with our 
eyes ?" ventured Nelly. 



NEWS FROM HOME. 

"O, no ! ' said Harry, " it's be- 
cause it's so near, isn't it ? ' 

"You are right, Harry," said the 
Doctor ; " it is nearer us than any 
of the heavenly bodies. Instead of 
being millions of miles away, it is 
less than a quarter of a million of 
miles from us." 

" Going to the Moon would be 
equal to traveling round the Earth 
nine or ten times then,' said Miss 
Roseberry. 

" I wish I knew T how far a million 
of miles would seem," interrupted 
Harry, before Dr. Willoughby could 
reply to his cousin. 

" It would take nearly four years 
to travel a million of miles," re- 
sponded the Professor, "even if 
you traveled day and night, and 



OVERHEAD. 



at the rate of thirty miles an 
hour." 

" Only think what a long journey, 
Harry," said Miss Roseberry; "you 
would be almost a man before you 
arrived." 

" I should like that," said Harry. 

" Is there really a man in the 
Moon ? " asked Nelly. " Abner 
said ." 

" O, no, Nelly," cried Harry, scorn- 
fully; " Abner was only in fun; but 
Dr. Willoughby do you think there 
are any people there ?" 

" It seems unlikely," was the reply. 
" If there are inhabitants, they must 
be entirely different from us. There 
is no water on the Moon, and no 
air . 

" O, dear," gasped both the children. 

102 



NEWS FROM HOME. 

. " And according to all accounts no 
vegetation ; and then, in the Moon's 
journey round the Sun, she has alter- 
nately a fortnight of intense heat, 
greater than at our Equator, and a 
fortnight of extreme cold, more se- 
vere than that of our Polar regions, 
so it would not be a very comfortable 
place to live in." 

The children sat in amazed silence. 

" How very inconvenient too," said 
Miss Roseberry ; " just fancy, Nelly, 
having all your furs and blankets and 
buffalo-robes and furnace-fires in use 
one week, and the next rushing into 
muslin dresses, putting up mosquito 
curtains, sending out for ice-cream 
and fans, and hating the very sight 
of woolen carpets ! ' 

" That is a domestic view of the 

103 



OVERHEAD. 

case that had not occurred to me," 
laughed the Professor. 

" How will the Moon look when 
we see it through the telescope ? ' 
pursued the ever practical Harry. 

" The surface seems rough and 
desolate," replied the Professor, "and 
covered with spots, some dusky and 
some bright. The ancient astrono- 
mers supposed the dusky spots to be 
seas, and gave them names which are 
still retained on the maps. One is 
called the Sea of Nectar, another the 
Sea of Tranquillity, &c, but these 
spots are now thought to be plains, 
and the bright ones mountains." 

" Why do they think they are 
mountains ? " asked Harry. 

" From the shadows they cast when 
the Sun shines upon them/' replied 



104 



NEWS FROM HOME. 



his friend, " and some of them are 
more than twenty thousand feet high." 




The Moon. 



" They are of volcanic origin, are 
they not," inquired Miss Roseberry, 



105 



OVERHEAD. 



anxious to atone for her recent friv- 
olous remarks. 

"Yes," he returned; "the theory 
is, that both the Earth and the Moon 
were once glowing stars. After a 
time the surface of the Earth began 
to cool and form a crust, and this 
crust gradually grew thicker and 
thicker, till now it is thick enough 
and cool enough for us to live upon. 
But the centre of the Earth is sup- 
posed to be still glowing, and the 
books say that at the depth of twenty 
miles the ground is doubtless red- 
hot. Earthquakes are caused by the 
gas and steam shut up under the 
crust, and volcanoes are the safety- 
valves for their escape/' 

" How T dreadful that seems ! ' 
sighed Nelly, looking anxiously 



1 06 




A Lunar Landscape. 



107 



NEWS FROM HOME. 



around as if expecting one in Abner's 
cornfield at once. 

" IVe seen the steam come bubbling 
up through the crust on top of the 
hasty-pudding when Mrs. Parsnips is 
making it for breakfast," said Harry. 
" Sometimes she lets me watch it and 
stir it for fear it will burn, and it 
makes a funny, puffing noise, and 
looks just like little volcanoes. Once 
I burnt my hand by letting it go too 
near when one of them burst and spit 
out the steam. " 

" That is a capital illustration, 
Harry," said the Professor, smiling, 
and nodding at Miss Roseberry over 
Harry's head. 

" These Moon volcanoes are sup- 
posed to have done sputtering and 

steaming, but there are streaks or 

109 



OVERHEAD. 

rays of light extending from them 
that look like streams of cooled lava. 
One of these mountains or craters 
called Copernicus, is more than fifty 
miles in diameter, and the walls of it 
rise eleven thousand feet above the 
surrounding plains." 

" How tantalizing it is never to see 
the other side of the Moon," said 
Miss Roseberry. 

" But the people on the other side, 
if there are any, can see our Earth 
by making a little journey across 
their rugged mountains to this side," 
said the Professor. 

" Doesn't the Moon turn round 
like the Earth so we can see both 
sides of it?" asked Harry. 

" She turns around," replied the 
Professor, " but as it takes her just 



no 




The Earth, as seen from the Moon. 



Ill 



NEWS FROM HOME. 

as long- to turn on her axis as it does 
to go round the Earth, we always 
see the same side. Try it for your- 
self, Harry. Take hold of that lit- 
tle elm-tree with your hands, and go 
around it, keeping your face towards 
it all the time. You see you turn 
completely round every time you go 
round the tree. When you began 
you were facing me, when you had 
gone half round your back was 
turned towards me, and now you 
have gone entirely round, you are 
facing me again/' 

" Yes, I think I understand it," 
said Harry, "but how can they 
be sure it is always the same 
side ?" 

" By the spots on the surface," 
answered Dr. Willoughby, "we al- 



"3 



OVERHEAD. 



ways see the same mountains and 
valleys whenever we look at the 
Moon, that is, when she turns her 
bright side towards us." 

" O, see what a black cloud is 
coming!' cried Nelly, "it's covered 
up ever so many stars already, and 
I b'lieve it '11 hide our lovely Moon 
in a minute." 

Nelly was right- With a sudden- 
ness that surprised them all, the 
beautiful subject of their conversa- 
tion was -presently obscured ; a cold 
wind came down from the mountains 
behind the house, and presently doors 
began to slam, and a low muttering 
of thunder was heard. 

" How chilly it has grown," said 
Miss Roseberry, as they all hurried 
into the parlor ; " we are like the 



in 



NEWS FROM HOME. 



Moon-people when their frosty fort- 
night has begun." 

In another moment the rain poured 
down, and they had to close the win- 
dows, but the Professor brought in 
his cheerful student-lamp, and they 
finished the evening merrily, playing 
" Twenty Questions." 




115 



Chapter VII. 

MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 

The next evening being clear, 
Harry asked the Professor to go on 
with the " Moon-talk," as he called 
it, and Miss Roseberry and Nelly 
having been summoned, they seated 
themselves on the piazza as before, 
and watched the beautiful orb as she 
slowly rose above the pine-fringed 
hills. 

" It is not quite as round as it was 
last night," said Harry, breaking the 
silence at last. 

"No," said Dr. Willoughby, "it 

cannot be perfect long; it has begun 

u6 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON 



to wane already." He spoke soberly, 
and glanced at Miss Roseberry. 

"Why isn't it full Moon all the 
time?" demanded Nelly, to her cous- 
in's relief, for she was uncomfortably 
aware that she too was thinking how 
a pleasant vacation might begin to 
wane just as it reached perfection. 

" It's a great deal prettier to have 
it round," added the child. 

" Don't you like to see the little 
new Moon sometimes, Nelly?" asked 
Miss Roseberry, " and the old Moon 
in the new Moon's arms that I showed 
you once ? " 

" Yes, pretty w T ell," said Nelly, 
"but I like the full Moon better. It 
makes it so light." 

" Perhaps," said Miss Roseberry, 
" it will please you to know that 



117 



OVERHEAD. 

when the dark side of the Moon 
is turned toward us the bright side 
of our Earth is turned toward the 
Moon ; so if there are any little girls 
there they have then a big, bright 
Earth to light them/' 

"And full Earth is about thirteen 
times larger than full Moon/' added 
the Professor. 

" Let me see," said Harry, trying 
to explain the matter clearly to him- 
self, " if the Sun was over there and 
the Moon was between the Sun 
and us, the side of the Moon that 
was turned toward the Sun would 
be bright of course, because the Sun 
would be shining straight on it, but 
the side toward us would be all 
dark and cold because it was out 
of sight of the Sun." 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 



"Yes," said Dr. Willoughby, "the 
Moon has no light of her own. She 
is only bright when the Sun shines 
upon her. When she is between us 
and the Sun, her dark side is toward 
us. So then we cannot see her, but 




The lunar crescent six days after a new Moon. 

as she moves along in her path around 

our Earth, she soon comes into such 

a position that she shows us a little 

strip of her bright side. This is the 

119 



OVERHEAD. 

small crescent we see in the south- 
western sky soon after sunset, and 
which we call the new Moon. Every 
night this crescent grows broader as 
the Moon travels along her path, — 
in fact crescent is from a Latin word 
which means to increase ." 

" Yes, yes," cried Harry, " I know 
in my music lesson it says 'crescendo,' 
when I ought to play louder." 

" Good ! \ cried Dr. Willoughby, 
much pleased ; " it is a comfort to 
teach such a boy as you, Harry. 

Harry blushed hotly at this praise, 
and snuggled a little closer to his 
friend in grateful acknowledgment of 
his approval, but he said nothing, and 
the Professor presently continued : 
"At last when the Moon is on the 
other side of us so that she is op- 



I20 




The Moon's phases. 
121 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 



posite the Sun, her whole bright side 
is turned toward us as it was last 
night, and we call it full Moon. 
Then she gradually grows smaller 




The phases of Yenus. 



as she moves along, until she dwin- 
dles to a small rim again. She is 
about twenty-nine and a half days in 
passing through these changes, or 



123 



OVERHEAD. 

phases, as they are called ; and our 
Earth goes through the same changes, 
or would appear to do so, to an ob- 
server on the Moon. Venus and 
Mercury have similar phases." 



The phases of Mercury. 



" What we call the ' old Moon in 
the new Moon's arms/ is caused by 



124 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 

the * Earth-shine/ isn't it ? ' asked 
Miss Roseberry. 

" Yes," replied the Professor, " the 
bright crescent is where the siinlisfht 
strikes the Moon, and the Earth 
throws a faint light reflected from 
the Sun upon the rest of the Moon, 
just enough to make it vaguely visi- 
ble/' 

" If the Earth is in between the Sun 
and the Moon now, why isn't there 
an eclipse to-night ?" asked Harry. 

" Because the Moon's path is not 
exactly level with the path of the 
Earth," responded the Professor. 

u If it were we should have an 

eclipse every time the Moon came 

between the Earth and the Sun, and 

every time the Earth came between 

the Sun and the Moon ; but the 

125 



O VERHEAD. 



Moon's path is sloped or tilted 
slightly, so that she sometimes passes 
a little too high, and sometimes a 
little too low to bring her just on 
a line with the Sun and the Earth, 
and therefore we do not have an 
eclipse then." 

" I wish I could see an eclipse of 
the Sun," said Harry; "is it very 
dark when the Sun is behind the 
Moon ? " 

" It is not dark like night," replied 
the Professor, "but there is a strange 
unnatural gloom over everything ; an- 
imals seem frightened and confused 
as the darkness comes on, and birds 
put their heads under their wings 
and go to sleep. In old times people 
were very much alarmed when an 
eclipse took place. They thought 



126 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 



something terrible was about to hap- 
pen. Some nations believed that the 
Sun and Moon veiled their faces be- 
cause they were offended, and would 
try in various ways to conciliate 
them. In the East Indies the natives 
imagined that a great dragon was 
flying through the air, and clutching 
at the Sun and Moon with his black 
claws. " 

" I've read a first-rate story about 
an eclipse," said Harry. " It says 
that Christopher Columbus and his 
men were nearly starved one time, 
and the Indians wouldn't bring them 
any food, and Columbus happened 
to remember there was going to be an 
eclipse of the Moon that very night, 
so he thought he'd scare the Indians 

with it, and he called the chiefs and 

127 



OVERHEAD, 



told them if they didn't bring him 
food, the light of the Moon should 
be taken away from them. By and 
by the eclipse began, and the Indians 
were dreadfully frightened, and they 
ran to Columbus and begged him to 
let the Moon shine again. So he 
went into his tent, or somewhere out 
of sight, and pretended to be doing 
something about it till the eclipse 
w r as over, and the Moon shone out 
as bright as ever. Then the In- 
dians were so glad that they prom- 
ised to do just whatever he told 
them to." 

"So they brought him some food?" 
said Nelly, eagerly. 

" Of course," said Harry. 

" I knew a little boy once," said 
Miss Roseberry, "who saw the Moon 



128 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 



when it was full, and then again when 
it was a new Moon, and he was quite 
distressed to see it so small, for he 




Kitty Gray 



thought some one had broken it. 
But when he saw it full again, he 
was delighted, and cried out : ' O, 



129 



OVERHEAD. 



papa has mended the Moon ! papa 
has mended the Moon ! ' 

" I suppose his father used to 
mend his playthings for him," said 
Nelly, " but he must have been very 
small and foolish. " 

" It must seem wonderful to unedu- 
cated people that eclipses can be so 
accurately foretold/' remarked Miss 
Roseberry, after a pause. 

"Yes," said Dr. Willoughby, " and 
that gives me a chance to tell a story. 
Once there was a Danish boy, Nelly, 
named Tycho Brahe." 

" I don't like his name very well," 
said Nelly, severely. 

" I have heard prettier ones my- 
self," said the Professor. "When 
Tycho was about fourteen, a total 
eclipse of the Sun was predicted for 



i 3 o 



TFCHO BRAHE, 




Portrait of Tycho Brahe (from original painting in the possession of 
Dr. Crompton, of Manchester). 



131 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 

a certain day and hour, and when he 
saw the Sun obscured at exactly the 
moment named in the astrological 
almanac, he was so filled with aston- 
ishment and admiration that he de- 
termined to devote himself to the 
study of astronomy.'' 

" And did he ?." asked Nelly. 

"Yes," replied the Professor; "the 
king of Denmark built him a magni- 
ficent Observatory on the island of 
Huen, between Denmark and Sweden. 
He called this Uraniberg, or the city 
of the Heavens, and here, during 
twenty-one years, he carefully watched 
the stars, and made many valuable 
observations which have been of great 
use to those who came after him. 
His friend and pupil, John Kepler, 
was also one of the greatest of as- 



OVERHEAD. 

tronomers, and was led to make some 
of his most important discoveries by 
Tycho Brahe's observations/' 

" That's what I'm going to be 
when I grow up/' said Harry. 

" I don't believe President Haves 
will build you an Observatory any- 
where, " said Nelly, who was getting 
tired and a little cross. 

"•Of course not you goosey!' 
retorted Harry; " Hayes won't be 
President when I'm grown up." 

" Well, I hope nobody will," said 
Nelly, who did not like to be called 
a "goosey." "Just think how tired 
that Tycho must have been ! Study- 
ing twenty-one years ! I know you'd 
be as cross as anything!" 

" I'm afraid that means that I've 
tired you, Nelly," said the Professor, 



134 




WKFrn 



135 




Monument erected to Kepler at Weildiestadt, his native town. 

137 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 



kindly ; " we have had wise talk 
enough for one evening. Run and 
get your bean-bag, and let us see 
if you can catch it forty times with- 
out missing before 'Cousin Miranda' 
begins to look at her watch and talk 
about bed-time." 

The evening ended cheerfully, but 
the next morning Miss Roseberry 
saw Dr. Willoughby returning from 
the Post-office with such a slow step 
and melancholy expression that she 
felt sure he had received some bad 
news. 

When she met him at the door, 
however, he only gave her a letter 
from Mrs. Marlow, saying: "This 
is our whole mail to-day." It con- 
tained, as she and he feared, a sum- 
mons to Lotus Bay. They must 



139 



OVERHEAD. 



start on Friday at the latest, Mr. 
and Mrs. Marlow being already 
there, and pleased with the place. 

Friday came all too soon. Mrs. 
Parsnips loudly lamented the de- 
parture of the "best boarders she 
had ever had," while the Professor's 
silence expressed even more. 

Even Abner seemed sorry to say 
good-bye, and as he shouldered the 
trunks, awkwardly expressed a hope 
that he should " have the heftin' on 
'em again next summer/' 

Mrs. Parsnips consoled herself by 
packing a basket of luncheon large 
enough for three days rations, and 
by sending a box of honey to Mr. 
Marlow. 

The Professor said very little, but 

walked to the station with them, and 

140 



MORE ABOUT THE MOON. 

as he shook hands with all in parting, 
said : 

" I'm sorry I haven't been able to 
keep my promise about the telescope, 
Harrv; "what do you say to going 
to Cambridge for a day with me if I 
can run down to the Cape for you ?" 

" O, goody ! ' cried Harry, for- 
getting his dignity for a moment, 
and fairly blushing with pleasure at 
the thought. Oddly enough, the 
Professor looked at Miss Roseberry 
instead of at the boy, and she was 
blushing too. 

Then the train rushed up, and 
away they went, leaving the Pro- 
fessor smiling and waving his hat, 
while Abner grinned in the back- 
ground as he took up the handles 

of his wheelbarrow. 

hi 



Chapter VIII. 

LETTERS. 
Letter from Prof. Willoughby to Harry. 

Hickory Corners, July, 1877. 

Dear Harry : 

Mrs. Parsnips desires me to ac- 
knowledge the receipt of a postal 
card which has just reached her, with 
the welcome news that you all arrived 
safely in Boston, and were about 
starting for Cape Cod, 

I remembered your hand-writing, 
but Mrs. Parsnips, with that greater 
keenness which belongs to ladies, rec- 
ognized it as Miss Miranda's sugges- 
tion, and bids me say "she is the 

142 



LE 7 TERS. 



thoughtfullest lady I ever did see, 
and it's just like her/' 

We have missed vou all verv much ; 
even Major looks dejected, and that 
reminds me of something strange that 
happened the day you left. 

On returning from the station, I 
took my book and camp chair to the 
barn in search- of a breeze. Kitty 
Gray was curled up on the hay, and 
presently Major came in, panting 
from his walk to the station, and 
from chasing a woodchuck on his 
way home. I shut my eyes and kept 
quiet, knowing he would tease me to 
go to walk if he thought me awake. 
He respected my apparent nap, and 
lav down at the foot of the ladder 
which led to Kitty's nest. Presently 
I heard her say : 



*43 



OVERHEAD. 



" How foolish you were to go to 
the village this hot day! ' 

" I wanted to see the boarders off," 
replied Major. 

" What a fuss you make about 
them," returned Puss. 

" Because I'm sorry to have them 
go, aren't you?" inquired the honest 
dog. 

" No.t very," said Kitty. 

" Don't you like them ? ' said 
Major ; " for my part I wish it was 
next summer, and they were here 



again." 



"I don't," said Kitty; "do you 
suppose I like to be wrapped up in 
a shawl to play I am a sick child, 
and have my tail pinched to make 
me cry ? And then I never could 
get a chance to catch a mouse except 



144 



LETTERS. 



at night. What's the use of sitting 
quietly by a mouse-hole if a little girl 
comes and sits down by you and talks 
all the time and frightens the mouse 
away ? What they said about the 
Milky-way too ! That's the milk- 
room I suppose, but they needn't 
have said anything about it ! I 
hardly ever do anything but lick the 
outside of the pans." 

" O, Kitty ! " said Major, " didn't 
I see you the other day with cream 
on your smellers ? ' 

" They're not smellers, they're 
whiskers," retorted Kitty, and ended 
the discussion by walking away. 
This amused me so that I felt as 
much refreshed as if I had had a 
nap, and accordingly I invited Major, 
and we took a long tramp. 



145 



OVERHEAD. 



When I told Mrs. Parsnips at tea 
what I had overheard, she was unkind 
enough to laugh and call it a dream, 
but I look for more sympathy from 
you and Nelly. 

If you should be dull before you 
feel at home at Lotus Bay, or be 
home -sick for Hickory Corners as 
you said you should, let me advise 
you to begin a collection of some 
sort : birds' eggs or birds' nests, post- 
age stamps, shells, seaweeds, — no 
matter what, you will find.it an excel- 
lent remedy for ennui. You see I do 
not hesitate to use a hard word, for I 
know you will look it out in the dic- 
tionary, or ask your cousin, and so 
the more I use, the more you will 
learn. I have begun a collection of 

minerals- since you left, to astonish 

i 4 6 



LETTERS. 



Miss Roseberry with the wealth of 
New Hampshire, if she comes here 
next summer. Some rainy day when 
you cannot go out, and your father is 
reading and Nelly at her lessons, I 
hope you will write to your friend, 
the old hermit of Hickory Corners, 
and tell him all you are seeing and 
doing. 

I expect to go to Boston early next 
month to see the occulist, and may 
then run down to Cape Cod to see 
you. Present my respects to your 
parents, and remember me cordially 
to Miss Miranda and Nelly. 
Your sincere friend, 

John Willoughby. 

Harry read his letter with a smiling 

face, and then gave it to Miss Rose- 

147 



OVERHEAD. 



berry, saying : " There's a message 
for you, and you can read it all if 
you choose." 

" Read it aloud, " said Mrs. Mar- 
low; " I should like to judge of the 
man who has bewitched you all 
so. 

Miss Miranda's cheeks reddened, 
but she went bravely through the 
letter, and they all laughed heartily 
at the kitten talk. 

" I should say he was a very clever 
fellow," said Mr. Marlow, " and I 
only wish he may come down here to 
wake us all up." 

" I don't wonder Harry gave you 
the letter, Miranda," was Mrs. Mar- 
low's only comment; " it's evidently 
written especially for you." 

Fortunately Harry had left the 

148 



LETTERS. 



room. Miss Roseberry, whose cheeks 
were painfully red now, only laughed 
and said, " Nonsense." 

Letter from Harry to Professor Wllloughby. 

Lotus Bay, July, 1877. 

Dear Dr. Willoiighby : 

It is a very stormy day, just as 
you told me, and papa is playing 
chess with Cousin Miranda, and 
Nelly is in the kitchen helping the 
girl make doughnuts, so that is all 
right, isn't it ? I thank you very 
much for your letter, and we all 
laughed about Major and Kitty. 

O, I must not forget to tell you 
we are all making collections, papa 
said it was such a good idea. He 
misses his office and the reading- 
room you know, and mamma has no 

149 



OVERHEAD. 

callers here, and I mustn't read, and 
Nelly hasn't any girls to play with, 
and I don't know what Cousin 
Miranda misses, but she is collecting 
too. You would never guess what 
they all are, so I'll tell you. Father's 
is Indian names of places that he 
hears the people here talk about. 
Some are so funny. Cuttyhunk and 
Pennikese, and Cooneymasset and 
Squiteague and Siasconsett, but it's 
too hard work to stop and ask how 
to spell them, and you can see papa's 
list when you come. 

Mamma is getting a lot of rules 
for cake and pudding, and Nelly is 
collecting scallop-shells, and I help 
her, and we've got ninety-four, no 
tw r o alike, all on a beam in the barn, 
and besides I am collecting coins. 



mo 



LETTERS. 



I've got copper cents of fifteen 
different years, and twelve foreign 
coins. You know there are ever so 
many old sea-captains here, and they 
get them. 

Cousin Miranda's collection is 
wild-flowers, and she presses one of 
every kind. She found over forty 
kinds the first walk we took. 

You shall see everything when you 
come, and we all hope you will. 
Father says so too. 

Your friend, 

Harry Marlow. 




151 




Chapter IX. 

THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 

^n the course of the next 
week, Harry received a 



second letter from Prof. 
Willoughby. 

Though it contained but a few 
lines, it pleased him more than the 
first, for it said : " I expect to arrive 
at the Pokonoket House next Thurs- 
day, and hope to drive over to Lotus 
Bay the following afternoon. 

" O, papa ! You will be glad to 
see him, won't you? ,: cried Harry, 
as soon as he had read this aloud. 

" And you'll make him stay to 
tea wont you, mamma ? O, Cousin 



152 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 

Miranda! won't it be fun to see him 
again ? We'll take him to walk with 
us, and fishing, and bathing, and 
clamming, and scalloping, and every- 
thing — and you shall go too, Nelly," 
he generously added, seeing her eyes 
grow round and eager. 

"All that in one afternoon, Har- 
ry?" cried Miss Roseberry, laughing, 
and Mrs. Marlow thought she looked 
quite as happy over the news as the 
children did. 

Punctually on the appointed day 
the Professor arrived looking remark- 
ably spruce and beamingly happy. 
Nelly flung herself upon him, and 
offered a kiss as soon as he jumped 
from the buggy, while Harry secured 
his right hand, and led him eagerly 

toward Mr. Marlow, who advanced 

153 



OVERHEAD. 

from the house to be introduced. 
Mrs. Marlow and Miss Roseberry 
were found in the parlor, and all 
were soon chatting like old friends. 

" How nice you look in a white 
vest," exclaimed Nelly, in a pause of 
the conversation; "you never wore 
one at Mrs. Parsnips'?" 

" Perhaps I did not want to out- 
shine Abner's spotted one," answered 
the Professor, and hastened to change 
the subject before the child could 
comment upon his new Panama hat, 
or the spray of coral-colored Bavardia 
in his button-hole. 

" Are you not going to show me 
your scallop-shells, Nelly?" he said. 

"O, yes," she cried, "and then will 
you go on the beach with us ? ' 

He willingly consented, and asked 



'54 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 



if all the party would not go too. 
Mr. Marlow declined, as it was his 
hour for a nap, and Mrs. Marlow 
wished to remain with him, . but 
Miss Roseberry was at leisure, and 
presently she and Harrv, Nelly and 
the Professor started together along 
the winding path, through grassy 
fields, toward the sea. On reaching 
a picturesque point, Miss Roseberry 
and the Professor sat down to rest 
upon the rocks, while Harry and 
Nelly wandered away to search for 
scallop-shells. They had rambled 
some distance, when Harry, who 
was considerably in advance, heard 
Nelly crying, and ran back to see 
what was the matter. She was 
dancing up and down in much 
distress, and pointing at her basket, 



155 



OVERHEAD. 



which was floating far away upon 
the waves. 

" O dear, O dear ! " she sobbed ] 
" my nice little red and white basket ! 
I only left it a few minutes, and now 
it's sailing and sailing, and I know it 
will never come back. What shall 
I do?" 

" You can't do anything/' said 
Harry, " you'll have to let it sail 
away. Perhaps the tide will bring it 
back, or perhaps it will take it some- 
where else, and then some other little 
girl will have it for her dear red and 
white basket." 

"O, Harry ! how unkind you are," 
cried his sister. " I don't like this 
beach at all ! I like the pond at 
Hickory Corners, where the water 
stays in the same place, and 



itf 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 

doesn't come up and carry things 
off so ! ' 

" It's the Moon's fault," responded 
Harry. 

" There isn't any Moon ; it's day- 
time," exclaimed Nelly, looking up 
at the sky to assure herself, that she 
was right ; " how can you tell such a 
story ? " 

u I'm not telling a story," said 
Harry, indignantly; "Captain Kidds 
told me so : he says it's the Moon 
that makes the tide come in and ^o 
out. It's high tide and low tide twice 
every twenty-four hours, and when 
it's rising they call it flood tide, and 
when it's falling it's ebb tide, and he 
was Qfoing- to tell me more, but some- 
body called him away, so I must 
ask Dr. Willoughby to tell the rest. 



OVERHEAD. 



Come, Nelly, your basket's gone, 
and I am sorry, but don't be a baby 
about it, come." 

Nelly gave one mournful look at 
the far away black speck, which was 
now all that remained of her treas- 
ure, wiped her eyes, and followed 
her brother. 

" Cousin Miranda," she cried, as 
they came near the others, " the 
waves came and sailed away my 
basket, and Harry says it's the 
Moon." 

" Doctor Willoughby," interrupted 
Harry, " doesn't the Moon make the 
tides ? ' 

" The Sun and the Moon toge- 
ther," replied the Professor, " pull or 
attract the water on the Earth's sur- 
face, and make it rise up in a big 

' 158 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 



wave, Can you think why the water 
is not drawn away from the Earth 
entirely ? ' 

--■ If it were, your basket would go 
up to the Moon too, Nelly," said 
Miss Roseberry, hoping to cheer the 
child, who still looked sober over her 
loss. 

" Is it Attraction that you told us 
about once that keeps it ? ' asked 
Harry. 

" Yes," replied the Professor, " the 
Earth attracts the water, and keeps 
it from being drawn away entirely by 
the Sun or Moon. The Moon being 
nearer to the Earth, pulls harder, 
and raises bigger waves than the 
Sun although she is so much smaller. 
When the Sun and Moon are on the 
same side of the Earth, as at new 



159 



OVERHEAD. 



Moon, or on opposite sides, as at 
full Moon, they pull together, and 
then we have very high tides, which 
are called spring tides." 

" I think it was a spring tide that 
carried away my basket," said Nelly. 
I'm sure it was a nice dry place 
where I put it down, and I only 
forgot it a very little while." 

This was whispered in Miss Rose- 
berry's ear, — the Professor did not 
frear it, so he went on : 

" When the Sun is on one side of 
the Earth, and the Moon about half- 
way round toward the opposite side, 
they pull against each other, and the 
water does not rise as high in either 
direction as it does when they are in 
a line. These are called neap tides. 
It is observed that when it is high 



1 60 







162 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 



tide on one side of the Earth, it is 
always hi^h tide at the same time on 
the opposite side." 

" Why is it ?" asked Harry. 

" It is so difficult to explain," said 
the Professor, " that I must ask you to 
remember the fact, and wait for the 
reasons till you are older. Perhaps 
by that time some better way of ex- 
plaining it may be discovered." 

"Captain Kidds, who lives next 
door to us here, says the tide rises 
a great deal higher in some places 
than in others," remarked Harry after 
a pause, during which they all walked 
along the beach. 

" O, yes," responded Prof. Wil- 
loughby, " in the Bay of Fundy, 
where the sea runs up into a long 

bay, the tide rises sixty or seventy 

i6 3 



OVERHEAD. 

feet, and often carries away sheep 
and cattle it comes so fast." 

" O, I hope we never shall go 
there to board/' said Nelly, looking 
nervously toward the waves. 

" In Boston it only rises about 
eleven feet, and in some places only 
eighteen inches, " resumed the Pro- 
fessor. 

" I think there is little or no tide 
on the Mediterranean Sea," said 
Miss Roseberry. 

" Then let us go there," said 
Nelly. 

" Captain Kidds says that high 
tide comes about fifty minutes later 
every day," said Harry ; " is that be- 
cause the Moon rises about so much 
later every evening ? ' 

" Yes," said the Professor, " and 

164 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT, 

sometimes a strong wind blowing 
against the tide will delay it, or a 
rough irregular coast will affect it in 
the same way." 

" O, there's a lovely white scallop- 
shell/' cried Nelly, and just then 
Miss Roseberry found a pretty gray 
one, which excited Harry's emula- 
tion, and presently they all four were 
busily hunting for the same thing, 
and talked no more science that 
day. 

Mrs. Marlow did invite the Pro- 
fessor to stay to tea, and during the 
evening he made so pleasant an im- 
pression upon both the parents that 
they urged him to come to Lotus 
Bay as often as he could. 

After he was gone, Miss Rose- 
berry told Harry that the oculist 

165 



O VERHEAD. 



had reported very favorably upon 
Dr. Willoughby's eyes, and promised 
him entire cure if he would be 
prudent a few months more. 

" O, good ! " cried Harry. 

"That must have been the reason 
he looked so happy and smiling to- 
day. I supposed it was just because 
he was glad to see us again." 

" Perhaps it was both," said Miss 
Roseberry. 

This little conversation was on the 
door-step, where Miranda and Harry 
were fond of sitting in the evening to 
watch the stars and listen to the frogs 
in the Flax-pond over the hill. 

" Miranda," interrupted Mrs. Mar- 
low, from the sitting-room behind 
them, "one of us ought to go to 
Boston to-moirow. Henry's tonic is 



1 66 



THE PROFESSOR'S VTSTT. 

almost out ; I want the second vol- 
ume of - Daniel Deronda,' and Harry 
ought to be fitted to a new pair of 
shoes, and have his hair cut too. 
Should you mind going ? You know 
Henry hates to have me leave him 



93 

SO. 



" O, no," said Miranda, cheer- 
fully ; " I should rather like it. I 
have several errands of my own." 

" And I can go to-morrow too," 
said Harry, gravely, " for Dr. Wil- 
lpughby can't come over till day 
after ; he said he had some business 
to attend to to-morrow." 

So it was arranged, and the two 
took the nine o'clock train next mor- 
ning, the weather proving clear and 
fine. When the cars stopped at 

Pokonoket Station, they were very 

167 



OVERHEAD. 



much surprised to see the Professor 
getting in. I think they were pleased 
too. The Professor certainly was, 
for w T hen he saw them he exclaimed : 
" What a lucky man I am! Here I 
was dreading the tedious car-ride, 
and a day in town, and now I am to 
have such good company/' 

He took the seat in front of them, 
and the three had so much pleasant 
talk, that the two hours journey 
seemed nothing at all. On reaching 
town they separated, but agreed to 
meet again at a certain picture gal- 
lery near Park Street Church, when 
their respective errands were accom- 
plished, and go thence together to 
take the four o'clock train for Cape 
Cod. 

About two, accordingly, Miss Rose- 



ns 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 

berrv and Harrv entered the g-allerv 
and found the Professor waiting for 
them. They spent some time study- 
ing the paintings and engravings, but 
Harry grew tired, and went to the 
window to watch the crowd of pass- 
ers-by on Tremont Street and the 
opposite Mall. The Common looked 
very lovely, with its vividly green 
grass, shady avenues, noble elms, and 
the clear blue and white background 
of summer skv. A man, w^ith a 
streaming cluster of red and blue gas 
balloons was w r alking slowly up and 
down, but Harry w r as too old to care 
for him, or for the Punch and Judy 
show that drew a group around it 
in another place. Suddenly his quick 
eyes saw something more interesting, 

and he sprang back from the win- 

169 



O VERHEAD. 



dow crying, " O, Dr. Willoughby ! 
There's a man over here with a big 
telescope ! Can't we go and look 
through it, Cousin Miranda ? You 
know we were disappointed about 
the one at Hickory Corners ! ' ; 

" Certainly," said his cousin, " if 
there is time," and she looked at the 
Professor. He was willing too, and 
Harry eagerly led the way down- 
stairs and across the street to the 
corner of the Mall, where stood a 
man with a large telescope, waiting 
for customers. On a placard which 
hung from the instrument were the 
words, " Sun spot now visible." 

" We have come at a fortunate 
time, Harry,' said the Professor. 

" I only wish Nelly were here too," 
said Miranda. 



170 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT 



The man now adjusted the glass, 
and they all looked through it in 
turn. They saw a bright disc, with 
a dark spot in the centre. 

" That spot looks nearly as large 
as a pea," said Harry. 

" It is probably seven thousand 




miles in diameter," said the man, "but 
at the distance of ninety-one millions 
of miles, it looks small of course." 

"Is it a cloud, or what is it,?' 
asked Harry. 

' It is an opening in the bright 
clouds that surround the Sun, and 



171 



OVERHEAD. 



the dark body of the Sun shows 
through, " replied the man. Then 
he screwed on another eye-piece of 
greater power, and they looked again 
and saw a faint shadow round the 
spot. " The dark centre is called 
the Umbra, and the gray, shadowy 
part the Penumbra," he continued. 
" If you will come some evening I 
can show you the moon, or Jupiter 
and his Satellites/' 

" O, that would be nice," said 
Harry, " but hew do you bring this 
telescope ? " 

" I carry it myself," was the reply. 

" Isn't it very heavy," said Miss 
Roseberry, quite shocked. 

" It weighs one hundred and eighty 
pounds," said the man, " but that's 
nothing when you are used to it." 



172 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 

" What is it made of ? ' asked 
Harry. 

" The tube is mahogany/' replied 
the man. " It is a refracting tele- 
scope, and cost me $1,500." 

" How large is the object-glass?' 
inquired Dr. Willoughby. 

11 Eight inches," said the owner. 
" Here are some curiosities," he 
added, showing them, under a mi- 
croscope, a few drops of stagnant 
water containing a number of Hair- 
worms, They looked several inches 
long, and about as large round as 
Miss Roseberry's little finger. 

" And here," continued the show- 
man, " is a small quantity of swamp- 
water containing specimens of the 
shell-backed Cyclops. They have 
only one eye." 



17: 



OVERHEAD. 



" What lively little creatures," said 
Miranda. " They seem to swim 
with those little feelers near their 
heads/' said Harry, when he looked; 
" and now they're eating something, 
and one drove the other right away." 

" That is a piece of a Hair-worm 
they are eating," said the man, " they 
are so voracious they will eat a whole 
one in a short time." 

"How large are these brisk little 
creatures ? " asked Miss Roseberry. 

" Not half as large as the head of 
a common pin," he replied, " and 
the Hair-worm is about three quar- 
ters of an inch long." 

" I should think the worm ought 
to eat the other fellow, if he is the 
biggest," said Harry, after they had 
paid, and thanked the man, and were 



74 




Great Silver-on-Glass Reflector at the Paris Observatory. 
175 



THE PROFESSOR'S J 'IS IT. 



sitting under a tree, having yet half 
an hour before they need go to the 
railway-station. 

" What did he mean by a Re- 
fracting telescope ? " asked Harry. 

"There are two kinds of Tele- 
scopes, " replied the Professor, " Re- 
fractors and Reflectors. In a 
Reflector the rays of light are re- 
flected from a large mirror at the lower 
end of the tube. The observer look- 
ing in at the upper end of the tube, 
stands with his back to the Sun 
or Moon, or whatever he wishes to 
look at, and sees the image reflected 
in the mirror. In the Refractor the 
object-glass refracts or bends the rays 
of light, and brings them to a point or 
focus. You will understand this better 
when you study the science of Optics/' 



177 



OVERHEAD. 






"What is an Object-glass ?" asked 
Harry. 




The Washington Great Equatorial. 



" It is the glass at the large end of 

the tube next to the object to be 

178 



a 

H 

o 

CD 

5* 




THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT 



looked at. The eye-piece is the small 
glass near the eye." 

" Is that telescope like the one 
Galileo invented ?" asked Harry. 

" It is much more powerful," re- 
plied Dr. Willoughby. "The object- 
glass in Galileo's was about an inch 




Saturn and his moons (general view with a 3 3-4-inch object-glass.) 

in diameter, and this is eight inches. 
There is a large telescope in the 
Washington Observatory, made by 
Mr. Alvan Clark, that has an object- 
glass of twenty-six inches. It makes 
a great difference in looking at the 



181 



OVERHEAD. 



heavenly bodies whether one has a 
three-inch glass, or one of twenty-six 
inches." 

" I should think it would," said 
Harry. 




Section of Main Building — United States Naval Observatory, showing 
support of Equatorial. 



" It is important large telescopes 
should be perfectly steady," continued 
the Professor, "and in Observatories 
they are often placed upon solid ma- 
son-work, built up from the ground, 

and not touching the walls or floors 

182 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 



of the building at any point. One of 
the finest telescopes in the United 




Cambridge (U. S.) Equatorial, showing Observing Chair and rails. 

States is at Cambridge. The object- 
glass is fifteen inches in diameter, 



O VERHEAD. 

« 

The Obsevatory has a revolving 
Dome, with an opening in it, which 
closes with shutters. This Dome 
turns by machinery, so that the tele- 
scope can be directed through the 
opening toward any part of the heav- 
ens. The chair in which the ob- 
server sits is made so that it can 
be easily raised or lowered, and it 
runs on circular rails round the tele- 
scope, and so can always be placed 
in the right position for the ob- 
server/' 

"O, how r I would like to go there/' 
said Harry. 

" Perhaps you will some time," 
replied the Professor, " and now it is 
time to go home/' 

Then they left the cool and shady 

184 



THE PROFESSOR'S VISIT. 



Common, and took their way through 
crowded streets to the station, all 
agreeing that they had accomplished 
a great deal, and had a delightful 
day. 




185 



Chapter X. 

ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 

The next time Professor Wil- 
loughby came to Lotus Bay, he 
found the ladies and children just 
starting on a fishing excursion with 
Captain Kidds, Mr. Marlow having 
gone to drive with another kind 
neighbor. 

Harry eagerly proposed that he 
should join them, and the others 
cordially seconding the invitation, he 
was easily persuaded, and they were 
soon dancing over the blue waves, 
with plenty of hooks and lines, and 

a good supply of bait. 

186 



ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 



"We're going to catch scup, Doc- 
tor Willoughby," said Nelly, " and 
you must stay to tea, and have 
some ; you can't think how nice they 
are ! 

" Perhaps he's had some at the 
Pokonoket," suggested Harry. 

Nelly looked disappointed, but 
smiled again when the Professor as- 
sured her he had not yet tasted her 
favorite fish. 

" The whole word is Scuftpaug" 
said Harry. 

"And they're just like silver," 
cried Nelly, " all over lovely shiny 
white." 

11 How far out are you going to 
take us, Captain ? " asked Mrs. Mar- 
low, who was a little timid on the 
water, and now looked anxiously at 



187 



OVERHEAD. 



the long space between them and the 
wharf they had just left. 

" Only as iar as the second buoy, 
Marm," was the answer, " as long as 
it's only scup we're after." 

They soon reached the buoy, and 
Captain Kidds having fastened the 
boat to it, began, with Harry's help, 
to bait the hooks for the rest. Pres- 
ently every line was thrown over, and 
every face assumed an expression of 
patient expectation. It was a long 
time before any one had a bite, and 
Harry soon broke the silence by say- 
ing in a low tone to the Professor 
who sat next him.: 

" I wonder if we could see that 
spot on the Sun to-day if we had 
a telescope." 

" Very likely," said the Professor; 



ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 

" a Sun-spot sometimes lasts several 
months, and sometimes it vanishes in 
a few hours. The Sun turns from 
East to West on its axis in about 
twenty-six days. We know this be- 
cause the spots seem to move across 
the disc in about a fortnight, though 
it is really the Sun that moves, and 
carries them with him. The spots 
are first seen on the Eastern edge ; 
then they appear to pass across to 
the Western edge, and then they dis- 
appear. After about fourteen days 
they re-appear on the Eastern edge 
again. This is a little longer than 
the time it takes the Sun to turn on 
his axis, because the Earth is all the 
while moving round the Sun in her 
path." 

Here Nelly caught a scup, and 

189 



OVERHEAD. 



loudly begged the Professor to ad- 
mire its silvery beauty, which he 
did, to her entire satisfaction. It 
was then dropped into the pail 
brought for the purpose, and Dr. 
Willoughby resumed his remarks to 
Harry. 




The same spot seen at different points of the Sun. 

: 'As these spots move, or appear 

to move across the Sun, they vary in 

1 90 



ASTROXOMY AXD FISHING. 

shape, being larger and broader when 
on the middle of his disc, and growing 
narrower as they approach the edge. 
When a large spot comes to the edge, 
a notch can sometimes be seen there, 




Front view of a spot on the Sun. 

showing that the spot is a cavity or 
opening." 

"The man said they were openings 
in the bright clouds, but what makes 

them?" asked Harry. 

i 9 i 



OVERHEAD. 



" Sir John Herschel, the' astrono- 
mer, supposed them to be caused by 
tornadoes and whirlwinds/' replied 
the Professor. 




Spot observed close to the edge of the Sun. 

The conversation was now inter- 
rupted by Harry and the Doctor's 
each pulling up a fine scup, after 
which Miss Roseberry distinguished 
herself by catching a sculpin, which 
was thrown back as useless, after 
Mrs. Marlow had wondered at its 
big mouth and curious horns. 



ASTROXOMY A XI) FISHIXG. 



In the next quiet interval, Harry 
inquired, " How large are these spots 
ever seen ? ' 

" Sometimes they are twenty-five 
thousand miles or more in diameter. 
There is generally a dark centre ; 
next comes a border of gray clouds, 
and then bright streaks of light called 
Faculae, supposed to be masses of 
vapor, thousands of miles long. But 
the Sun is so dazzling, it is difficult 
to study his surface." 

" The telescope must always have 
a dark glass in it to protect the eye, 
must it not ?" inquired Miss Rose- 
berry, who was near enough to over- 
hear the conversation. 

" Yes/' replied the Professor ; " if 
you should look at the blazing Sun 

through a telescope without this 

193 



OVERHEAD. 



colored glass, you would lose your 
eye-sight." 

"I never thought, of that," said 




Appearance of the Sim's surface as seen through powerful glasses. 

Harry; " isn't it strange when the 
Sun looks so bright to us, there can 

be large black spots on it ? ' 

194 



ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 



" If we look at it with a powerful 
telescope," said the Professor, " the 
surface seems to be mottled or dotted 
with small, oval grains. These have 
been called willow-leaves, or rice 
grains, from their shape. They are 
thought to be smaller openings in the 
fleecy clouds, I believe." 

"Are there always spots on the 
Sun ?" asked Harry. 

"No," replied his -friend; "they 
diminish in number during five years 
or so, and then increase again for 
about five years. There were a great 
many in 1870." 

Here Harry discovered that his 
bait had been entirely nibbled off, but 
after taking a fresh bait, he began to 
catch scup so fast that he forgot all 

about the Sun. At the end of two 

195 



OVERHEAD. 



hours it was found that Nelly had 
caught seven, Harry eleven, the Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. Marlow each five, 
while Miss Miranda had only two, 
but was redeemed by Captain Kidds 
who boasted of fourteen. It was 
decided that these would make an 
ample supper, and the Captain ac- 
cordingly cast off from the buoy and 
took charge of the rudder, while 
Harry and Miss Roseberry each 
grasped an oar and pulled gallantly 
home. 

After tea, when Mrs. Marlow had 
gone to put Nelly to bed, and Mr. 
Marlow and the Professor had be- 
come absorbed in a political discus- 
sion, Miss Roseberry and Harry 
slipped away to their favorite west 

door step. Here, bye and bye, the 

196 



ASTRONOMY AXD FISHING. 



Professor joined them, and they re- 
sumed their talk about the Sun. 

" I wish I could see a total eclipse 
of the Sun," said Miss Roseberry; 




Total Eclipse of the Sun, August, 7th, 1869, showing the Corona and 
Prominences. 



the Corona must be so beautiful." 

" I thought it was too dark to see 

197 



OVERHEAD. 



much of anything in a total eclipse," 
said Harry. 

" When the Moon comes between 
the Sun and the Earth, and acts as 




The Eclipse of 1858 (Liais), showing Prominences. 

a shade to hide the Sun's bright- 
ness, " said the Professor, " there can 
be seen around the dark edge of the 
Moon, a Corona or Crown of silvery 
light, rising above the Sun's surface, 

to a height of two or three hundred 

198 



ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 



thousand miles, and besides the Co- 
rona there are rose-colored flames 
which stream out around the edge of 
the Moon. These are called the 
Red Prominences, and they have 




Solar Explosions. 



been compared to garnets round a 
brooch of jet. 



99 



OVERHEAD. 



" How perfectly exquisite it must 
be," said Miss Miranda. 

" Are they on the Sun or on the 
Moon ? " asked Harry. 

" There was formerly much doubt 
as to whether they belonged to the 
Sun, the Moon, or to our atmos- 
phere," replied the Professor, "but 
they are now supposed to belong to 
the Sun." 

"What are they?" persisted Harry. 
" I believe astronomers are still in 
doubt about the Corona, though it is 
thought to be caused partly by re- 
flected Sun-light ; but it has been 
discovered by means of the Spectro- 
scope (which is an instrument com- 
posed of two small telescopes, having 
a prism between them), that the Red 
Prominences are flames thrown off, 



AS TK 0X0 MY AXD FISHIXG. 

by a mass of hydrogen o-as which 
surrounds the Sun, and is so hot as 
to shine by its own light. This en- 
velope of gas is called the Chromo- 
sphere, and the bright surface of the 
Sun is called the Photosphere." 




Student's Spectroscope. 



" How can they find out with a 
Spectroscope," asked Harry. 

" When a sunbeam passes through 
a prism, a band of rainbow colors is 
formed which is called the Solar 



OVERHEAD. 



Spectrum. Haven't you seen it when 
the Sun strikes the glass drops of a 
chandelier, Harry?-" 

" O, yes, often, and I knew the 
drops were prisms, but I didn't know 
what the colors were called, " an- 
swered Harry. 



f 


( J '■ ■ ■ ' 
k«..B. C 


i: . b iL '. g " - \ 


t 1 




J 














X \ \ 


1 








1 


JZed Orange Yellow Green Blue JhSigo Violet 



Illustrating the Dark Lines of the Solar System. 

" The white light is really made 
up of these rainbow colors," contin- 
ued the Professor, " and the prism 
separates them. If we let the light 
of a candle, or the light of burning 
hydrogen gas, or any bright light 
pass through a prism, it will be 
broken or split up in the same way, 
and the band of colors thus made is 

202 



ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 



called the spectrum of the candle, 
or the spectrum of the gas, or what- 
ever the light may be. Each kind 
of light shows a different spectrum. 
When astronomers let the light from 
the Red Prominences pass through 
the prism of the Spectroscope, they 
recognized the spectrum that belongs 
to glowing hydrogen, so they knew 
that the flames must be from hydro- 
gen surrounding the Sun ? Am I 
not tiring you with all this?" 

" O, no!" cried Harry and Miss 
Roseberry, together, " do go on ! ' 

" Very well, then," he resumed, 
"we know that the Sun shines by 
its own light, and the ancients called 
it a globe of fire. It is now thought 
to be made up of gases and metals, 

most of which are found upon the 

203 



OVERHEAD. 



Earth, only, upon the Earth they are 
solid, while in the Sun the heat is so 
intense that they are all in the form 
of vapor. It has been calculated 
that if the Earth were covered with a 
layer of ice one hundred feet thick, 
the heat w T e receive from the Sun in 
a year would melt it; and as to the 
light of the Sun it is equal to more 
than five thousand wax candles at a 
distance of one foot from the eye." 

" I do wish Abner could hear 
that," said Harry; "but I suppose 
he never would believe it." 

" Another beautiful appearance 
connected with the Sun," continued 
Dr. Willoughby, " is the Zodiacal 
Light. This is a cone of faint light 
which stretches up above the horizon 

at certain seasons. In the winter and 

204 



ASTRONOMY AND FISHING. 



spring it may be seen after twilight 
rising" from the western horizon, and 
in summer and autumn in the east 
before day-break/' 

" What is it supposed to be ? ' 
asked Miss Roseberry. 

" One theory is that it is sunlight 
reflected from a cloud of little meteors 
between the Sun and the Earth/' said 
the Professor, " but here comes the 
boy with my horse, and I must bid 
you good-night/' 

" O, come to-morrow and tell us 
more," cried Harry, clinging to him. 

"Shall I?' asked the Professor 
of Miss Roseberry. 

She smiled, and he added : " Then, 
I will ; good-night." 



>05 



Chapter XI. 

LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

The Professor came early the next 
afternoon in a two-seated carriage, 
and invited Miranda and the chil- 
dren to take a drive with him. They 
were soon ready, and Miss Roseberry 
and Nelly taking the back seat, and 
the Professor and Harry the front, 
they started in good spirits ; Nelly 
remarking that if only Major and 
the colt were following, she should 
think they were going to Hackmatack 
Mountain. 

It was not long before Harry re- 
sumed the talk of the previous evening 

206 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY 



by asking the Professor if Meteors 
were shooting stars. 

"Yes," he replied, "Meteor is from 
a Greek word which means things in 
the air. Have you never seen them 
flashing through the sky ? ' 

" O, yes," answered Harry; "once 
when we were sitting on the door- 
step, we saw a big one go by, didn't 
we, Cousin Miranda ? but it was 
gone before we had time to look at 
it." 

" They rush along twice as fast 
as our Earth," said the Professor ; 
" nearly any clear night, one can see 
four or five in an hour, but about 
the ioth of August and the 13th of 
November there are thousands to 
be seen, and every thirty-three years 
there is a great star-shower. The 



207 



OVERHEAD. 



last was in 1866 or 1867. It used 
to be supposed that Meteors were 
thrown from volcanoes in the Moon, 
but astronomers have since concluded 
that millions of them are continually 
traveling round the Sun, and that 
now and then our Earth crosses their 
path, and then we see swarms of 
them. They fly along so swiftly that 
when they come within our atmos- 
phere, they become very hot and 
bright, and some of them burn up en- 
tirely. Others explode, and the frag- 
ments come tumbling down upon the 
Earth. These fragments are called 
Aerolites, or Bolides, and are com- 
posed partly of iron and nickel. Some 
have been found weighing more than 
a thousand pounds. There is a very 
large one in the Smithsonian Insti- 



:o8 




209 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

tute in Washington, which fell in 
Arizona. It is as tall as Nelly, but 
not very thick, and has a large hole 
in the middle, It looks like an 
enormous mass of what is commonly 
called ' clinker ' from a furnace or 
coal-stove." 

" I should be sorry to be near 
when it fell," said Miss Roseberry, 

" Yes," said Dr. Willoughby, "they 
are often nearly buried in the ground 
where they strike, so great is the force 
they have acquired. In old times, 
people were very much afraid of both. 
Meteors and Comets, but we know 
too much about them now to consider 
them omens of coming evils." 

" Are there many Comets, too ? ' 
asked Harry. 

" Many thousands," replied the 



211 



OVERHEAD. 

Professor, " but most of them can be 
seen only with a telescope. They 
usually have a nucleus or head sur- 
rounded by a sort of haze called the 
Coma, and a long train of light 
streaming from them out over the 
heavens sometimes millions of miles, 
and yet so thin that even small stars 
can be seen through it. Some Comets 
move round the Sun, in long, oval 
paths, and seem to belong to him as 
the Planets do, but others suddenly 
appear and then vanish, and are never 
seen again. One Comet was seen to 
divide into two, which traveled side 
by side through the sky, and there is 
another which appears every seventy- 
five or seventy-six years. It was last 
seen in 1835, so it will be visible here 
again in 191 1." 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 



" I remember seeing a very beauti- 
ful Comet in the autumn of 1858/' 
said Miss Miranda; "it had a mag- 
nificent curved tail like a fiery feather. 
That was Donati's, was it not?" 




Donati's Comet, 1858. 



"Yes," replied the Professor, "it 
was discovered by Donati, at Flor- 
ence, and named for him. It was 
one of the most brilliant ever seen." 



213 



OVERHEAD. 



" I wish I could see it," cried 
Harry and Nelly together. 

11 I am afraid you never will," 
responded Dr. Willoughby ; " for it 
is supposed to be nearly two thousand 
years in going round in its path, and 
you will hardly live to see its next 
appearance." 

At this point Nelly saw some 
blackberries by the roadside, and 
begged to be allowed to get out and 
gather them. So the conversation 
turned upon other things, and Harry 
forgot all about astronomy until after 
tea, when he suddenly inquired : 

" Doctor Willoughby, how can you 
tell which is North ? ' 

" If you have a compass it is very 
easy," said the Professor. 

" Yes, I know about that," said 



214 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

Harry, "but I mean if you were off 
in a desert somewhere, and hadn't 
any compass." 

" If you stand with your back to 
the Sun at noon you w 7 ill be facing 
the North, and at night you can tell 
by the North Star." 

" Cousin Miranda showed us how 
to find the North Star once, Nelly, 
don't you remember!" said Harry. 

" O, yes," said Nelly, "it was a 
big bear, and he always points to 
it. 

" Why, no it wasn't, Nelly, it was 
a dipper," said Harry; "two of the 
stars point to it, but I forget which 
they are." 

" Come out on the doorstep a mo- 
ment and I'll show you," said the 
Professor, leading the way. Harry 



O VERHEAD. 

and Nelly followed. " There/' he 
continued, " you see those seven 
bright stars over Captain Kidds' 
wood-shed ; four of them form the 
body of the Dipper, and the other 
three the handle/' 

"There, Nelly! I told you it was 
a dipper/' said Harry. 

" But the Dipper is part of the 
constellation or group of stars called 
Ursa Major, or the Great Bear," 
added the Professor. 

"Aha! I told you it was a bear," 
said Nelly. 

" If you imagine a line drawn from 
the bottom of the Dipper to the top 
through the two stars on the side 
farthest from the handle, and prolong 
it a little in the same direction, you 

will reach the North Star." 

216 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 



" Is it that one all by itself ?" said 
Harry, "and not very large?' 

"Yes," said the Professor, "it is 
a star of the second magnitude, and 
is called Polaris. It is at the tip of 
the Little Bear's tail, or at the end 
of the handle of the small Dipper. 
Two of the stars in the Little Bear 
are quite faint, but the other two you 
can see plainly enough. The bright- 
est one is called Kochab." 

" I see them," said Nelly, " two 
bright ones, and two little dull 
ones." 

" So do I," said Harry, "but the 
handle crooks round the wrong - way. 
I like the big Dipper better." 

" Those two brighter ones are 
called the Guardians of the Pole," 
said Professor Willoughby, "because 



217 



OVERHEAD. 



they always move around it. The 
Pole, you know, Nelly, is an imagi- 
nary point in the heavens, and as the 
North Star is the nearest bright star 
to it, they call it the Pole-Star. It is 
about a degree and a half from the 
Pole, and moves round it in a small 
circleo" ft w . . 

lly-s <± tit t-in.or ^ -® p"laris 



/ / 

i { 

• % Kochab 



lA.wfc/lTujc*' 






.<© 



Diagram of Great Bear and Little Bear. 

"What did you mean by second 
magnitude ?" asked Harry. 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

" The stars are arranged in six 
classes," replied the Professor, " ac- 
cording to their magnitude or size, 
but this only means their apparent 
size. The brightest may be larger 
than other stars, or they may only 
be nearer the Earth. The brightest 
are called stars of the first magnitude, 
the next brightest are of the second 
magnitude, and so on to the sixth 
class, which are the smallest that can 
be seen without a telescope. With 
a telescope a great many more can 
be seen. If you should watch Ursa 
Minor, the Little Bear, you would see 
that he appears to move round the 
Pole once in twenty-four hours." 

" Why do they call it a bear ? ' 
asked Harry, "it doesn't look much 

like one." 

219 



OVERHEAD. 



" In looking at the sky," replied 
the Professor, " you notice that all 
the stars seem to be arranged in 
groups or clusters. In early times 
men gave names to these star-groups, 
or constellations, from some fancied 
resemblance to animals, such as 
bears, lions, eagles, &c. In most 
cases the resemblance is not easily 
seen, but the old names are kept to 
prevent confusion, and it is necessary 
to know them, because they are used 
in books of astronomy." 

" I have sometimes thought," 
said Miss Roseberry, " that when 
less was known of the art of 
drawing, men might have been 
more easily satisfied by a rude re- 
semblance/' 

" I like to have them called bears 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

and lions," said Nelly; " it's a great 
deal more interesting than just stars 
and planets, and I can remember 
them better, too." 

" Many of the constellations are 
connected with old fables of the 
Gods and Greek heroes," continued 
Dr. Willoughby ; "you'd like that, 
Nelly." 

" O, yes ! ' cried the little girl, 
" do tell us the story about the Great 
Bear." 

" According to the Greek fable," 
said the Professor, " that was once 
a beautiful princess, named Callisto, 
with whom Juno became so angry 
that she turned her into a bear. 
When the poor Princess found her 
pretty hands turning into heavy paws, 
and her nails into pointed claws, she 



OVERHEAD. 

cried to Jupiter for help, but as her 
voice was now only a hoarse growl, 
he did not hear her." 

" O, dear!' cried Nelly, looking 
at her own chubby fingers, "how she 
must have felt when she saw them 
all black and ugly!" 

" As she was now a bear," re- 
sumed the Professor, -f she was ob- 
liged to live in the woods. One day 
she w T as startled by a hunter, and as 
she turned to fly from him, she saw 
it was her own son, Areas. Of 
course he did not recognize her, and 
would have killed her, but Jupiter at 
last came to the rescue, and saved 
both by snatching them up into the 
heavens and placing them among 
the stars." 

" O, that was good," sighed Nelly, 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

and would have asked for a second 
story, but here Mrs. Marlow called 
to her to come in and go to bed. 
Harry, who thought the fables 
rather foolish, was not sorry to 
have his turn, and at once inquired, 
" How many stars are there in 
all?" 

" There are more than three thou- 
sand visible without a glass, " replied 
his friend, " and many more to be 
seen with one. In early times men 
watched them carefully, studying 
their rising and setting and their 
motions across the sky. Travelers 
in the desert and on the sea were 
guided by them, particularly by the 
Pole-Star, as that is always in nearly 
the same place. It is said the 
Phoenician sailors steered by Ursa 



223 



OVERHEAD. 



Minor and the Greeks by Ursa 
Major." 

" Seven equal stars adorn the greater Bear, 
And teach the Grecian sailors how to steer," 

-quoted Miss Roseberry. 

" Thank you," said the Professor, 
" you must remember that, Harry." 

" I wonder how Capt. Kidds would 
feel if he had only the Bear to go 
by," said Harry. "Those old sailors 
must have had hard times when it 
was cloudy at night, and they had 
no light-houses. Is the Great Bear 
always in the North, Dr. Willough- 
by?" 

"Yes, it moves around the North 
Pole once every twenty-four hours, 
and is seen sometimes on the right, 

and sometimes on the left of the 

224 



LAST DAYS AT LOTCS BAY. 

North-Star ; sometimes near the ho- 
rizon, sometimes far above it, but 
always in the North." 

" It is the same as ' Charles's 
Wain,' is it not?" asked Miss Rose- 
berry. 

" The seven stars that form the 
Dipper are sometimes called Charles's 
Wain, or wagon," replied the Pro- 
fessor, "because they look a little 
like a wagon drawn by three horses 
in a line." 

" Somewhat as w r e looked, going 
in Abner's wagon, with the old horse 
and the colt, and Major," laughed 
Harry. 

" The Arabs had still another 
fancy," added Dr. Willoughby ; "they 
compared it to a bier with mourners, 
and called the star at the tip of the 



225 



O VERHEAD. 



tail, Benetnasch, or chief, as it stood 
in the place of the head-mourner, the 
four stars forming the bier/' 

" What are the pointers named ?" 
asked Harry. 

" The one nearest the Pole is 
Dubhe, and the other Merak. The 
middle one is Mizar, and that has a 
small companion star named Alcor, 
which the Arabians called the proof, 
as it was considered a proof of good 
eye-sight to see it. Just now it is a 
little below Mizar." 

"I see it!" cried Harry, " so my 
eyes are good." 

" So can I," said Miranda, "but I 
am most pleased that you can, Pro- 
fessor Willoughby, for it proves that 
your sight is really improving." 

" You are kind to remember that," 



226 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

he answered, much pleased. " Yes, 
I am glad to say my eyes are almost 
as well as ever, though I am advised 
to rest them a few months longer. 
To return to sailors,' he resumed 
after a pause, " instead of having 
only the stars to guide them, they 
now have the Compass, the Chrono- 
meter, and the Nautical Almanac, 
and many other guides." 

" I saw a Nautical Almanac at 
Captain Kidds, to-day," said Harry. 
" It was full of figures ; I couldn't 
understand much except what it told 
about light-houses, and when the tide 
will be high in different places." 

" It is invaluable to seamen," said 
the Professor, " it helps them find 
their way across the pathless ocean; 
it gives the time when the Moon will 



OVERHEAD. 



pass the principal stars that are near 
her path, and her distance from these 
stars during every day in the year. 
It foretells Eclipses, and contains 
much more information about the 
Sun and the Planets, which enables 
them to determine accurately their 
latitude and longitude, or in other 
words, to find out as exactly where 
they are, as if they could see a map 
of the world, with their own ship 
distinctly marked upon it. You will 
study all this some time, when you 
are older, and when Doctor Bonney 
says you are well enough. The 
Nautical Almanac is always pre- 
pared several years in advance, so 
that it may be useful to those who 
make long voyages and cannot go 
and buy a new one every year. 



228 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY 



The one for 1880 was published in 
1876/' 

" How interesting it is," said Miss 
Roseberry, " to imagine these as- 
tronomers toiling at home and task- 
ing their brains day after day, to 
prepare guides for men they never 
see, through dangers they themselves 
perhaps never encounter, each doing 
what the other could not possibly do, 
and both equally necessary to the 
progress of the world." 

" Certainly," said the Professor, 
laughing, "we can fancy Jack Tar 
saying to Dr. Star : ' you make me 
an almanac, and I'll go and bring 
you tea and coffee to keep you awake 
while you do it ; you regulate my 
chronometer, and I'll fetch the ma- 
hogany for its box.' 



229 



OVERHEAD. 



a Captain Kidds has a chrono- 
meter, too," said Harry, rather sur- 
prised at these jests, " and it was 
in a strong, square box, and made 
so that it kept level all the time, no 
matter how much the ship pitched 
about. It is the same as a big 
watch, isn't it ? ' 




Chronometer. 



"Yes," said Dr. Willoughby, "only 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

that is a more perfect time-keeper, as 
near perfection as one can be made. 
Before a captain starts on a voyage, 
he has his chronometer carefully 
regulated and put in order by some 
scientific person." 

"Why is he so particular about 
it ?" asked Harry. 

" He finds his longitude by it," 
the Professor answered ; " let me see 
if I can explain it in a few words. 
As the Earth turns round toward 
the East, any place east of this town, 
for example, will have later time 
than we have, because the motion 
of the Earth will carry it under the 
Sun sooner. Fifteen degrees of lon- 
gitude are equal to one hour of time, 
that is, fifteen degrees, or about one 

thousand and fifty miles of the 

231 



OVERHEAD. 



Earth's surface pass under the Sun 
in one hour. When it is sunrise 
here, it will be an hour after sunrise 
at a place fifteen degrees east of us, 
and it will be an hour before sunrise 
at a place fifteen degrees west of 



us. 



" Then if the Sun rises here at six 
o'clock, it w r ould be seven o'clock 
fifteen degrees east of us, and five 
o'clock at the same distance west- 
ward ?" said Miss Roseberry. 

" Yes," said the Professor. "When 
the Sun is on the Meridian, it is 
twelve o'clock." 

"What is the Meridian ?' : said 
Harry. 

" It is an imaginary line drawn 
from the North to the South point 
of the horizon through the zenith. 



23: 



LAST DAYS AT LOTUS BAY. 

Chronometers are generally set by 
Greenwich time, and they reckon 
longitude from the Meridian which 
passes through that place. You 
know it is near London, and there 
is a famous observatory. When 
the captain sees the Sun on the 
Meridian at twelve o'clock, you 
know, he looks at his chronometer ; 
suppose now he should find it to 
be one o'clock by this chronometer; 
then allowing fifteen degrees to an 
hour, he would know that he was 
fifteen degrees west of Greenwich. 
Or, if the chronometer time was 
three o'clock, he would know that he 
was forty-five degrees west. But if 
the chronometer said eleven o'clock, 
when the Sun said twelve, he would 

know that he w T as fifteen degrees east 

233 



OVERHEAD. 



of Greenwich, or in longitude fifteen 
degrees east." 

" I think I understand it," said 
Harry, but his voice sounded rather 
tired, and the Professor soon after 
bade them all good-night, and re- 
turned to his hotel ! ' 




234 



Chapter XII. 

AUTUMN CHANGES. 

Two days after this Harry came 
hurrying in from a walk to the post- 
office, looking quite excited. 

"Where's Cousin Miranda ?" he 
asked of Nelly, who was sitting on 
the door-step, with her six dolls. 

" Up-stairs," said Nelly. 

" I've brought her a letter," said 
Harry, " and while I take it up I 
wish you'd go and tell father there's 
no mail for him to-day," and he dis- 
appeared up the stairs, as Nelly care- 
fully set Miss Cecelia Willoughby 
Estella Marlow in a leaning position 



OVERHEAD. 



against the scraper, and went to do 
his errand, with a patient little sigh 
over the interruption to her many 
cares. Harry found his cousin read- 
ing " The Cruise of the Betsey," a 
book Dr. Willoughby had lent her, 
but she laid it in her lap with a smile, 
when she saw him coming with a 
letter. 

" It's the Professor's handwriting," 
began the boy in an injured tone. 
" I don't see what he wants to write 
to you for, instead of to me! May I 
wait, and hear what he says about 
coming ?" 

" Certainly," said Miss Roseberry; 
looking quite flushed and excited, too, 
but stopping to study the address 
and seal so long, that Harry felt 

very impatient. " You seldom see 

236 



AUTUMN CHANGES. 

a seal now-a-days ,! she remarked. 
" Look, Harry, what a nice, clear 
Wit is ! " and she carefully cut off 
the end of the envelope with her 
scissors, instead of breaking the wax. 
Then at last she took out the letter, 
and poor Hany felt more jealous 
than ever when he saw there were 
two well-filled sheets. Dr. Willoughby 
had never written so much to him. 
He walked to the window and leaned 
half out with his back to his cousin, 
to pretend he didn't care, and re- 
lieved his mind by picking off ripe 
morning-glory seeds, and sprinkling 
them down upon Nelly and her 
family. 

Presently he heard Miss Roseberry 
say: " O, Harry!' and he turned 



237 



OVERHEAD. 



quickly to see what made her voice 
sound so strange. 

" Just think!" she said, half read- 
ing, and half repeating from the 
letter; "he found a note from Mrs. 
Parsnips when he went home that 
night, and she says that Abner is 
very sick with rheumatic fever, and 
everything is going wrong on the 
4 farm, and she wants the Professor 
to come back and help her; and he's 
gone ; and he don't know r when he 
can see us again, but he'll write 
and let us know soon how Abner is. 
Poor Mrs. Parsnips! Isn't it too 
bad?" 

" I should think you'd say poor 
Abner," said Harry. "Yes, it is too 

bad ; but goon. What else? You 

238 



AUTUMN CHANGES. 

haven't read half, I'm sure. Abner 
isn't dead, is he ? ' 

" O, no, indeed!' 1 replied his 
cousin. " I've read you every word 
there is about Hickory Corners," — 
(here to Harry's surprise and dis- 
gust, she quietly folded up the let- 
ter and put it in her pocket) "and 
don't you want to go and tell Nelly 
about it ? ' 

Harry knew he was dismissed, and 
he went slowly down-stairs, feeling 
very unhappy. 

" I never thought Cousin Miranda 
would be so mean," he said to him- 
self. " I should think it was bad 
enough to have my Dr. Willoughby 
snatched away to New Hampshire, 
and no knowing when I shall see 
him again ; and there's Abner to feel 



239 



OVERHEAD. 



sorry about, too, — and now she won't 
even let me see his letter! I showed 
her both of mine, right off !" 

By this time, Harry had reached 
Nelly, and I fear he took a cruel 
pleasure in telling her that Abner 
was very sick indeed, would possibly 
die, and that then of course Dr. Wil- 
loughby would have to stay with 
Mrs. Parsnips, and perhaps never 
come to see them any more. By the 
time the tears began to run down 
tender-hearted Nelly's cheeks, Har- 
ry's bad temper was half over, and 
just as he was soothing her by sug- 
gesting that perhaps Abner was bet- 
ter by this time, and maybe there'd 
be another letter from the Professor 
to-morrow, his cheerfulness was en- 
tirely restored by the appearance of 



240 



AUTUMN CHANGES. 



two tall, manly-looking boys who 
were coming along the road, and who 
called out to know if he wouldn't 
like to go fishing with them. 

"Yes! Yes! Wait a minute !" 
he cried, and rushing into the parlor, 
exclaimed : 

f O, mamma ! Hal Carleton and 
Dick Rodgers are going fishing, and 
want me to go too. Say, quick, 
can I ? " 

" Yes," said Mrs. Marlow, " I am 
always willing you should go with 
them, only get Mary to put you up 
some luncheon, and be sure and get 
home before dark." 

"All right!" said Harry, and went 
away quite happy again. Nelly, how- 
ever, was left rather lonely, especially 
as Cousin Miranda remained in her 



241 



OVERHEAD. 

own room all the forenoon, and after 
dinner, instead of taking the little 
girl to walk, as she generally did, 
slipped away alone toward the shore, 
and did not return till nearly tea- 
time. And even after tea, instead 
of coming out on the door-step to 
join the young people in a game of 
" Twenty Questions," or " Throwing 
Light" (for Hal and Dick had come 
over) as she always had before, she 
was shut up with Mrs. Marlow, talk- 
ing, till the visitors went away, and 
Nelly had to go to bed. 

Both the children thought Cousin 
Miranda seemed rather queer, but in 
the course of the next day everything 
was explained and forgiven by their 
mother's confiding to them as a great 
secret that Dr. Willoughby had asked 



242 



AUTUMN CHANGES. 

Miranda to be his wife, and that she 
had promised that she would. 

The children were so surprised and 
bewildered that for a moment they 
gazed at their mother with wide open 
eyes, in silence. 

"Oho!' said Harry, "that was 
why she wouldn't show me that let- 
ter, I suppose, and why she went to 
the Post Office herself this mor- 
ning." 

" Perhaps so," said Mrs. Marlow. 
"I don't know; but, remember* not 
to tease her, and not to speak of 
it to any one but your father and 
me. 

Then she w r ent into the house, 
leaving Harry and Nelly in the barn, 
where they were arranging their scal- 
lop shells. 



24j 



OVERHEAD. 



" Do you suppose we shall have 
to call her Mrs. Willoughby now?' 
asked Nelly, after a while. 

"/ shan't," said Harry, " I shall 
say Cousin Miranda just the same, 
and I shouldn't wonder if by and by 
we called him Cousin John/' 

" O, how funny that would be," 
said Nelly, " and of course there'll 
be a wedding like Cousin George's, 
and we shall be invited. I shall like 
that. I should like to have a pink 
dress." 

" I don't care for weddings,"' said 
Harry, " but I tell you what will be 
good fun. If they invite us to 

, where his college is, next 

summer. There must be a telescope 
there." 

All these pleasant anticipations 

244 



AUTUMN CHAXGES. 

were fully realized, even to the pink 
dress. 

Abner soon grew better, and by 
the time the Marlow family returned 
to Boston, the Professor could be 
spared from Hickory Corners, and 
was often at their house. 

As his eyes were not to be tasked 
for several months, he persuaded 
Miss Roseberry that an early mar- 
riage, and a winter spent in seeing 
Washington and Florida would be 
the best preparation for resuming his 
college duties in the spring, and 
when this was all settled, he farther 
proposed, that as Doctor Bonney 
still forbade Harry's going to school, 
the boy should go with. them. Nelly 
shed a few tears, but was consoled 

by being promised a letter every fort- 

245 



OVERHEAD. 



night, with her own name on it, and 
having her dear friend Milly Hoff- 
man take tea with her every Satur- 
day. 

Harry himself was as happy as the 
Professor, which is saying much, and 
was overheard by his mother remark- 
ing to Nelly : 

" I think it's quite proper I should 
go, for you know if it hadn't been 
for my talking to him in the cars, 
Cousin Miranda might never have 
known him." 

" Then I ought to go too," said 
Nelly, "for if I hadn't fallen out 
of the carriage, he couldn't have 
caught me, and that was really the 
first of it.]' 

" Not at all," interrupted Mrs. 
Marlow, " it was my asking Cousin 



i 4 6 



AUTUMN CHANGES, 



Miranda to go with you to Hickory 
Corners." 

" And who recommended Hickory 
Corners ? " said Dr. Bonney, coming 
up behind them ; for this was at 
the wedding, and all the friends were 
there. 

11 The only way to settle it," said 
Mr. Marlow r , " is to say, it was 
written in the Stars!' 



THE END. 



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